About 226 million passenger trips were made during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday, a significant increase from last year but still fewer than 2019.

China's railway, road, air and waterway network handled 226 million trips, a year-on-year increase of 71.2 percent from last year and a drop of 46.4 percent from the same period in 2019, said Han Jinghua, an official from the Ministry of Transport, at a news conference on Monday.

This year's 40-day Spring Festival travel rush began on Jan 7 and will end on Feb 15.

Monday marks the 24th day of the travel rush. Halfway through the period, transport operation has been generally smooth and safe, Han said.

From Jan 7 to Sunday, 892 million passenger trips were made across China, a decrease of 46.9 percent compared with the same period in 2019 but an increase of 56 percent over the same period last year.

Although the epidemic has caused major decreases in traffic, more cars traveled on expressway networks during the rush.

From Jan 7 to Sunday, small passenger cars made 744 million trips on expressways, 14.6 percent more than the same period in 2019 and 21.5 percent more than that in 2022, Han said.

A "return peak" was seen across the country on Friday as the public holiday ended. On that day some 50.92 million trips were made, a year-on-year increase of 83.1 percent from last year and down 46.7 percent compared with the same period in 2019.

The Ministry of Transport and other departments will closely follow the epidemic situation, study the trend of passenger and freight flows and provide better service to ensure smooth operation of transport and logistics for the rest of the travel rush, Han said.