The week-long Spring Festival holiday witnessed 408 millon passenger trips in China, up 2.1 percent year on year, data from the Ministry of Transport (MOT) showed Friday.

Between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2, the number of road trips totaled 336 million, a 0.8 percent increase from last year, while train trips reached 52 million with an annual increase of 8.8 percent.

More breakdown figures showed that air travel exceeded 9.82 million trips, surging 14.9 percent from last year, while boat trips topped 10.35 million, a rise of 3.5 percent.

About 2.98 billion trips are expected to be made during this year’s Spring Festival travel rush, known as Earth’s biggest human migration, between Jan. 13 and Feb. 21.

The average distance traveled was 262 km as most trips were intraprovince and 87.8 percent of the trips were within a range of 500 km, MOT data showed.

Nearly 80 percent of the travels were for visits to relatives and friends, as the festival is the most important occasion for family reunions.

The Guangzhou South Railway Station was the most used transportation hub during the migration, followed by Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station and Beijing West Railway Station, all of which are seated in major cities with significant populations of migrant workers.

China’s State Council on Friday pledged to press ahead with addressing wage arrears for migrant workers to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.

The pledge was made at a meeting presided over by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

Attendees of the meeting said that addressing the issue of wage arrears for migrant workers was an important step to increase their income and strengthen social justice, embodying the people-centered development concept.

The State Council will carry out special campaigns and inspection tours to crack down on such offenses, while making some cases public.

Provincial, municipal and county-level officials will be held accountable for wage arrears for migrant workers within their jurisdictions, according to the meeting.

Human resources and social security departments must maintain clear and open channels for people to report crimes, and a blacklist system should be created to punish enterprises which are in arrears with migrant workers’ salaries.

Attendees also agreed to handle lawmakers’ suggestions and political advisors’ proposals to promote scientific decision making. They said handling lawmakers’ suggestions and political advisors’ proposals are important for addressing people’s concerns and advancing administration according to law.

In 2016, departments of the State Council handled 7,873 national lawmakers’ suggestions and 3,862 proposals by national political advisors, and more than 3,000 opinions and suggestions were taken into consideration when drafting relevant policies and regulations.

Attendees vowed to further address suggestions and proposals this year, strengthening communication with lawmakers and political advisors, and making public all responses to suggestions and proposals.

The 13th Five-Year Plans on food and drug safety were both approved at the meeting. According to the plans, local governments, particularly county-level governments, must be responsible for ensuring food safety. Firm crackdowns will be launched against illegal additives to prevent risks.

The authenticity of clinical test data on drugs will be put under closer watch, and production and sales of counterfeit drugs will be severely punished.

Sample tests and early warning will be boosted, and such tests must cover food, blood products, vaccines and essential medicines.

Moreover, technology such as big data must be harnessed to ensure food and drug safety, and national standards for medicines, medical equipments as well as cosmetics must be heightened.

China’s national observatory on Friday issued a yellow alert for fog in the country’s northern and central regions.

From Friday to Saturday, there will be thick fog in parts of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as well as provinces of Henan, Hubei, Sichuan and Hunan. In parts of Hebei, Hunan and Hubei, the fog will reduce visibility to less than 500 meters, the National Meteorological Center said.

In extreme cases visibility may fall below 200 meters in those regions, it added.

The center said drivers in affected regions should slow down to safe speeds.

China has a four-tier color-coded warning system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

China has developed its own explosive atmosphere test chambers, ending its reliance on foreign technology and products, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation announced on Friday.

The equipment tests products operating in various explosive environments, such as rockets, planes, vehicles, mines and gas pipelines in kitchens.

A set of standards for such tests would be unveiled later, said Deng Rongwu, a scientist working on the project.

Southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Friday reported two human H7N9 avian flu cases.

It is the first time that such cases have been reported in the province.

The two patients are currently stable but still in critical condition.

Local authorities have taken disease control measures.

At least ten people have died from the virus since the start of the year, according to disease control centers in Henan, Guangdong and Hunan provinces.

H7N9 is a bird flu strain first reported to have infected humans in March 2013 in China. It is most likely to strike in winter and spring.