Aerial photo taken on Dec. 12, 2021 shows residents lining up for nucleic acid test at a testing site in Zhenhai District of Ningbo City, east China's Zhejiang Province.Photo:Xinhua

The local government in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, a major manufacturing base, are moving to encourage local companies to make production adjustments and employees to stay put during the upcoming Spring Festival holidays, as the province faces new COVID-19 cases. 

As an incentive to keep workers in Ningbo during the holidays, which fall between January 31 and February 6 in 2022, companies are encouraged to take measures such as offering "retention red envelopes," guaranteeing accommodation and improving meals provided to staff.

Non-local frontline staffers who work in larger industrial companies and major project construction companies between January 26 and February 10 will be provided with special subsidies, equal to 100 yuan ($15.71) per person per day, which can go up to 500 yuan per person.

To ensure a safe production environment, the local government will encourage enterprises, which are aiming to meet deadlines or engaged in major construction projects, to plan ahead and adjust their production plans for the first quarter of next year.

As for private manufacturing enterprises with a total industrial output value of more than 10 million yuan in the first quarter of 2021, if their first-quarter output rises 10 percent or more on a yearly basis next year, they will be eligible for a reward of 10,000 yuan for each incremental increase of 10 million yuan, which will be capped at a maximum of 500,000 yuan.

Rewards aside, the local government will also support recruitment and lower costs, including taxes, according to the notice. 

The number of job fairs will be increased both before and after the holidays, including 10 job fairs for labor cooperation outside Ningbo to meet companies' urgent need for labor.

A representative of a medical equipment manufacturer based in Ningbo told the Global Times on Wednesday that he has received the official notice and begun studying the company's arrangement for the holidays.

"We will definitely balance production and the needs of workers, especially at the annual time of family reunions," he said.

The head of an investment firm based in Ningbo surnamed Zhang also told the Global Times on Wednesday that a minority of its employees is non-Ningbo locals and they would like to stay put for the holidays because they are likely to be required to undergo quarantine after returning home.

"The current situation in Ningbo is overall under control. Optimistically speaking, I think the outbreak will be alleviated around the New Year's Day on January 1," Zhang said.

Zhejiang reported 45 new local COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, including six in Ningbo and 39 in Shaoxing, the National Health Commission said in its daily report on Wednesday.

The move in Ningbo follows similar approaches pursued by several other Chinese cities ahead of the main holidays.  

"Ningbo's measures combine three key factors well: production, virus prevention and humanitarian care during the family reunion holiday," Bai Ming, deputy director of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce's International Market Research Institute, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Companies are encouraged to seize the opportunity to increase output, which could help reinforce the competitiveness of East China's manufacturing sector in the global markets, while ensuring employees' financial and mental issues won't be neglected, Bai noted.