According to a university official, in previous years, dozens of students spent the Spring Festival in the university. But this year, more than 700 students stayed back, and the university prepared a free buffet as usual, with festive decorations in the dining hall.

Deliverymen are especially busy this Spring Festival, as people who could not return home purchase festival goods online for parents or make special purchases for themselves.

At a station of food delivery platform Meituan in Shenyang, 32 riders are on duty during the festival. Twenty of them are from other places. The station prepared a dinner of takeaway dishes for all staff on duty one day before New Year's eve when many shops close, according to Ren Kang, who was in charge of the delivery station.

During the festival, community workers in the city helped the elderly who live alone. Guo Donghui, a 78-year-old man in Shenhe district, Shenyang, spent the festival with neighbors in the community.

"My daughter is in Shanghai and did not return in response to the 'stay-local' drive. I miss her a bit, but I also had a good festival," Guo said, expressing his gratitude to community workers who helped him buy commodities, visited him and brought red scrolls ahead of the festival.

He invited three old friends in the community to his home for a gathering on Feb 12. "If it were not for epidemic prevention, I would have invited more."

When his daughter greeted him on video during the festival, Guo reassured her that all items she had purchased for him were received and that he lacked nothing for the festival.

Xinhua