The Transportation Security Administration said on Saturday that it had screened 616,469 people at airport security checkpoints across the United States on Christmas Day, reported CNN.

Although it is just 23% of the number of travellers who flew the same day last year, it is almost half of the 1.2 million passengers who flew on Wednesday, setting a pandemic air travel record. A total of 846,520 people passed through TSA checkpoints on Christmas Eve.

According to travel experts, Sunday is expected to be another big day for air travel, when people return from holiday travels. As per TSA data,  nearly 7 million people were screened at airport security checkpoints last week. 

This major holiday rush comes despite the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urging Americans to stay home to avoid spreading coronavirus.

Also read: EU nations begin vaccinations, hail it as a ‘key’ to defeat COVID-19

Health experts fear that this might trigger another surge in COVID-19 cases similar to what had happened following the previous pandemic air travel record set around Thanksgiving.

Dr. Henry Walke, the CDC’s COVID-19 incident manager had said earlier this month, “We need to try to bend the curve, stop this exponential increase and so we’re really asking the American public to prevent these infections and avoid travel and wash their hands, wear a mask and maintain distance.”