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Passengers at Beijing’s main railway station on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Coronavirus: Chinese local authorities step up efforts to convince migrant workers to stay put over Lunar New Year

  • Incentives range from gifts of ‘lucky money’, free mobile data and tickets to attractions as central government starts campaign urging people not to travel
  • The country has reported more than 100 cases of Covid-19 a day for over a week and Beijing became the latest city to extend curbs on inbound travellers
Cities around China are tightening travel restrictions and encouraging migrant workers to stay where they are for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, as the country fights to contain the latest Covid-19 outbreak.

China has been reporting 100-plus cases, most of them locally transmitted, for over a week – the highest number since the initial outbreak was contained in Wuhan in March. On Monday, the country recorded 186 local infections, including asymptomatic cases.

The spike means pressure on local governments is mounting in the run-up to Lunar New Year – which falls on February 12. The festival normally sees the world’s largest annual human migration as hundreds of millions of people travel home for family reunions.

But a number of cities have gone into lockdown in an effort to curb the outbreak, while others, including Beijing, have announced tighter restrictions on incoming travellers.

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So far 29 provinces have called on employees to stay where they are for the holiday, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Many cities are using monetary incentives to convince migrant workers to stay, such as red packets of “lucky money”, coupons, free mobile data and free tickets to tourist destinations.

In Hangzhou, the capital city of the coastal province of Zhejiang, migrant workers willing to stay for the holidays are eligible to receive a 1,000 yuan (US$154) cash subsidy.

The central government issued a notice on Tuesday that it will launch a two-month nationwide campaign starting on Thursday to encourage migrant workers to stay in the cities where they work to help keep businesses up and running during the holidays.

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Aerial view of massive Covid-19 quarantine centre nearing completion in China’s Hebei province

Aerial view of massive Covid-19 quarantine centre nearing completion in China’s Hebei province

Cainiao, the logistics unit of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, will provide 200 million yuan (US$30.9 million) in subsidies to delivery workers staying on for the holiday season in more than 200 cities, according to the company. Alibaba also owns the South China Morning Post.

“The specific amount of subsidy will depend on the time worked and workload of the delivery workers,” said Li Jianghua, chief executive of Cainiao Guoguo, the firm’s courier delivery platform.

The company would also give out red packets to delivery workers on a daily basis during the seven days holiday, with “auspicious” amounts such as 88.88 yuan, Li said. Eight is traditionally associated with wealth and good fortune in Chinese culture.

Meanwhile, the authorities in Beijing have extended the 14-day mandatory quarantine for travellers coming from abroad to 21 days, plus an extra seven days of “health monitoring” when they are not allowed to take part in any public gatherings and must report their temperature to their work units or communities every day.

As Chinese cities face new Covid-19 lockdowns, have 2020 lessons been learned?

A number of other cities have already introduced 28-day monitoring for inbound travellers, while most others now require at least 21 days, after a number of local outbreaks triggered by imported cases that were only diagnosed after the 14-day quarantine had finished.

The largest recent outbreak has centred on the northern province of Hebei, and a large quarantine facility is being built from scratch on the outskirts of the provincial capital Shijiazhuang in an effort to curb the spread of the disease.

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