Fearing COVID-19 cases, lost profits and possible lockdowns, China's local governments and humming factories are offering a slew of incentives to persuade workers not to go home for the Lunar New Year holiday in February.

This period usually sees the majority of the country's 280 million rural migrant workers, as well as millions of white-collar workers who live far from home, travel back to see family.

The rapid coronavirus spread during last year's holidays, however, trapped many workers in their villages for months and forced them into long quarantines when they finally returned to the cities.