The Latest: Millions of Chinese travel locally for holidays

BEIJING — Tens of millions of Chinese are traveling during the combined National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, amid continued masking and other safety requirements aimed at preventing new virus outbreaks in a country that has seen no cases of local transmission in more than a month.

Fewer trips are expected, however, out of concern restrictions could be reimposed if new outbreaks occurred.

In Beijing, students and teachers are advised not to leave the city to ensure classes resume smoothly after the break. Partly to compensate, movie theaters and tourist attractions in the capital are being allowed to operate at 75% capacity. China has the world’s second-largest box office and movie-going is a major holiday activity.

Chinese usually travel abroad during the October holidays, but this year about 40% of the population is expected to make trips within the country.

___

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK

— Hospitals feel squeeze as coronavirus spikes in Midwest

— Mild to severe: Immune system holds clues to virus reaction

— Study: Neanderthal genes may be liability for COVID patients

— British lawmakers have renewed the government’s sweeping powers to impose emergency restrictions to curb the coronavirus. But many criticized the way Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative administration has used the powers

— House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have wrapped up an “extensive conversation” on a huge COVID-19 rescue package. The face-to-face meeting Wednesday was a last-ditch effort to seal a tentative accord on an additional round of coronavirus relief before Election Day.

— NBA Commissioner Adam Silver reiterates the league’s hope is to begin next season with teams in their home arenas...