Lunar New Year, China's biggest holiday, upended as covid surges threaten festivities worldwide

Several European cities have already canceled firework displays ringing in 2022 and some countries are reimposing restrictions, while Chinese families face the prospect of their third Lunar New Year spent apart.

The Lunar New Year — which begins on February 1, 2022 — is China’s biggest holiday, with millions of people traditionally crisscrossing the country to join loved ones for the festivities.

But those plans were upturned for many after China’s National Health Commission (NHC) on Saturday announced travel restrictions, doubling down on its “zero-Covid” strategy ahead of the Beijing Olympics happening the same month.

It urged residents in any city with confirmed Covid-19 cases against traveling during the upcoming New Year and Spring Festival holidays, amid an outbreak of infections in recent weeks.

The travel restrictions are a fresh blow for lockdown-weary Chinese families, who have endured some of the toughest — but most effective — rules in the world for more than a year.

It’s bad news too for the world’s second largest economy, still struggling with real estate woes and the fallout from sporadic lockdowns.

China’s “zero-Covid” strategy will be pushed to the limits when Beijing hosts the Winter Olympics in February, as the country opens its doors to foreign athletes at the same time the Omicron variant will likely be surging in other parts of the globe.

The government in Beijing announced Friday that due to the upcoming holiday season and influx of foreign athletes, residents should avoid leaving the city during the Spring Festival, unless necessary.

Indeed the Omicron variant also comes just as many countries in the Asia-Pacific region with tough restrictions — including Australia and Japan — had tentatively started to loosen up and live with Covid-19.