People across China have embraced a new tradition of watching movies on the the Spring Festival or first day of the Chinese New Year, with with this year's box office hitting a record high of over 1.27 billion yuan (about 186 million U.S. dollars) on that day alone.
Single-day box office revenue on the Spring Festival, which fell on February 17 this year, reached 1.278 billion yuan. Notably, nearly 60 percent of moviegoers purchased tickets the same day, the highest in six years, according to data from Maoyan, a leading Chinese movie ticketing and data platform.
"The total number of screenings during the 2026 Spring Festival film season exceeded 4.34 million, setting a new historical high. On the Spring Festival alone, 595,000 screenings were recorded, setting a new single-day record. Watching a film on the first day of the Chinese New Year has evolved from a casual holiday option into a new festive tradition," said Lai Li, a market analyst at Maoyan.
During the Spring Festival film season, which ran from February 15 to February 23, third- and fourth-tier cities posted strong performances in box office revenue, contributing nearly 60 percent of the total.
Spring Festival moviegoing becomes new tradition as box office hits record
Spring Festival moviegoing becomes new tradition as box office hits record
Spring Festival moviegoing becomes new tradition as box office hits record
Spanish health authorities on Friday identified a second monitored contact linked to the hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship MV Hondius after tracing a woman living in Catalonia who had shared a flight with a Dutch traveler died from the virus.
Spain's Center for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies said the woman is asymptomatic and was initially missed during contact tracing because of a seat change on the aircraft.
According to health authorities, the woman now meets the criteria for monitored contact under a newly approved national surveillance protocol and will remain under medical observation.
This came after the suspected case of hantavirus detected in Alicante. Spanish Secretary of State for Health Javier Padilla said on Friday that the health authorities had taken relevant measures.
In addition, Padilla confirmed that all 14 Spanish passengers aboard the MV Hondius had agreed to undergo voluntary quarantine measures in order to minimize the risk of further transmission.
The Dutch-operated expedition cruise ship, currently heading toward Spain's Canary Islands, has so far been linked to three deaths.
Padilla said a team from the Spanish Health Ministry would travel to Tenerife on Saturday ahead of the ship's expected arrival on Sunday.
Passengers are expected to disembark by small boats before being transferred under strict isolation measures. Spanish citizens aboard the vessel will be transported to Madrid for quarantine observation.
The British Health Security Agency announced Friday that a suspected hantavirus case has been detected on the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, linked to the ongoing outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.
The vessel stopped at Tristan da Cunha between April 13 and 15.
Spain identifies second suspected hantavirus case linked to cruise ship outbreak
