Universities across China are doing their best to give care to students staying on campus during the upcoming Spring Festival, a holiday for family reunion, thepaper.cn has reported.

While some students are heading home, while taking various precautionary measures, others have chosen to stay where they are during the festival, which falls on Feb. 12. According to the Ministry of Education (MOE), the number of university students not going home during the holiday is four times that of the last one.

However, as a traditional holiday, the festival atmosphere should not be missing.

Wang Dengfeng, director of the MOE leading group office on the COVID-19 epidemic, has required universities and colleges to strive to prevent the COVID-19 epidemic and make sure students enjoy a happy and safe Lunar New Year holiday on campus.

Besides taking COVID-19 prevention measures on a daily basis, China University of Petroleum in east China’s Qingdao city will also keep its library, canteen, sports facilities, and convenience stores open during the holiday, to offer convenience to students.

To create a festive atmosphere, the school will make New Year’s Eve dinner for students and deliver red envelopes to them, a traditional practice during the Spring Festival.

As her hometown in north China’s Hebei province is hit hard by the coronavirus, Yan Yuqing, a junior student of the university, decided not to go home during the holiday. Wang Wenhua, a teacher also from Hebei province, invited the girl to celebrate the Lunar New Year with her and promised to cook hometown food for her.

Hangzhou Normal University in the city of Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province, plans to hold New Year celebration activities for students staying on campus, including an online New Year’s Eve gala, and a live-stream session for students to express their best wishes to family members. The school also provides psychological consultation services for students from poor families.

Sichuan University, in southwest China’s Sichuan province, will provide free breakfast for students on New Year’s Eve, the first and second day of the Lunar New Year, and will charge only 0.01 yuan ($0.0015) for lunch and supper. According to the manager of a canteen with the university, there are 42 dishes altogether and the menu for each day is different from one another. The school will also give the students a special Spring Festival red envelope by adding 100 yuan to their meal cards.

Jiangxi Agricultural University in east China’s Jiangxi province plans to invite students to enjoy hotpot during the Spring Festival. “We received materials, such as epidemic prevention materials, nuts, and hotpot ingredients and seasoning from several companies who want to offer a hand to students staying on campus,” said a person in charge of the university’s office of student affairs.

Wuhan University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei province, have provided free meals for students staying on campus during the holiday. Fudan University in Shanghai has prepared New Year gifts for students.