(Yicai Global) Jan. 12 -- A number of Chinese cities are offering people money and spending coupons to encourage them not to return to their hometowns over the upcoming week-long Chinese New Year break in a bid to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus after new outbreaks were recently detected across the country.

Hefei in eastern Anhui province and Shangyu district in Shaoxing, southeastern Zhejiang province are offering ‘red packets,’ a traditional form of gifting money, of up to CNY1,000 (USD157) to every employee who does not have a household registration in the city and who chooses not to travel home for the week-long break from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6.

The lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 1 this year, is an important occasion for family reunions in China and festivities can last for 40 days around this date.

Normally the time of the world’s biggest human migration, Chinese municipalities including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Nanjing are calling on residents not to travel during the Spring Festival unless there is an emergency.

Several cities in Zhejiang are offering spending vouchers to workers to persuade them to stay put and to encourage factories to remain open. The small commodities capital of Yiwu is offering coupons of CNY300 (USD47) per person and in some cases CNY500 each. Ningbo is paying every migrant worker CNY100 per day up to a maximum of CNY500. Hangzhou is offering CNY600 per non-resident employee and Jinhua CNY800 each.

China State Railway Group still expects there be a big jump in travelers this year during the Spring Festival travel crush from last year, when people were also exhorted to stay in the cities they worked in, as students and migrant workers return home to their families.

Editor: Kim Taylor