Railway journeys in China during the usually frenetic Lunar New Year holiday travel rush are down by almost 70 per cent amid calls for people to stay where they are to avoid a new outbreak of Covid-19, AP reported.

The China State Railway Group on Saturday reported 52.33 million passenger trips from January 28 to February 11 a decline of 68.8pc from the same period last year.

Air and bus travel are also down considerably, but one figure is up: China's box office receipts smashed the previous one-day record on Friday, the first day of the new lunar Year of the Ox, bringing in more than 1.736 billion yuan, ticket agency Maoyan said.