China sees over 6m rail passenger trips on first day of travel rush

As the first time Spring Festival travel rush after China optimized epidemic control measures, Wang said he felt like going back to 2019, prior to the epidemic.

"Travel has become easier again," he said.

China optimized its epidemic control management recently, and epidemic measures for travel were also optimized last month.

Travelers no longer need negative nucleic acid test results or health codes, are not required to undergo nucleic acid testing or health inspection upon arrival, and will not have their temperatures checked.

About 2.1 billion passenger trips are expected to be made during the period, a year-on-year increase of 99.5 percent, Vice-Minister of Transport Xu Chengguang said at a news conference on Friday.

This year's travel rush will start on Saturday and end on Feb 15. The Spring Festival will fall on Jan 22.