Chinese government statistics show a surge in domestic and overseas travel during the weeklong Lunar New Year holidays.

Figures show 308 million people traveled during the seven days through January 27. That's up 23 percent from the same period last year.

Officials say the number is nearly 90 percent of the pre-pandemic figure of 2019.

Authorities ended their ultra-strict coronavirus restrictions earlier in the month.

Visitors returned to many tourist destinations. But some worry that could lead to the spread of infections in rural areas, or the emergence of new variants.

The state-run Xinhua news agency says about 1.2 million people traveled abroad from China during the six days through Thursday. That's about double the figure last year.

But the number who visited Japan remained low. Factors include the Chinese government's restrictions on sightseeing trips to Japan, and a drastic reduction in the number of flights.