BEIJING — The number of passengers returning to Beijing during China's Spring Festival travel rush maintains a flat trend, and concentrated flow of returning passengers will not occur, local authorities said.

Nearly 10.8 million passenger trips departing Beijing were made on trains and airplanes during the period from Jan 10 to 23, while over 2 million passengers returned to the capital by train and plane between Jan 24 and Feb 1, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transportation.

Meanwhile, over 2 million passengers are expected to arrive in Beijing by train during the 40-day travel rush that will end Feb 18, down about 74 percent year-on-year, while about 714,000 passengers will reach by plane during the same period, down over 73.8 percent year-on-year.

There will be no concentrated passenger flow into Beijing, said Rong Jun, deputy director of the municipal commission of transportation.

The number of passenger trips made on buses and rail transits sharply declined due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Beijing's transportation commission will continue to work with the country's civil aviation and railway sections to avoid concentrated passenger flow to Beijing, in a bid to better curb the epidemic, said Rong.