Tens of thousands of Chinese tourists stranded in island resort of Sanya after city imposes Covid lockdown
- The city authorities have banned anyone from entering or leaving the city on the island of Hainan after recording over 800 cases in the past week
- Anecdotal evidence suggests many of those trapped are Shanghai residents who earlier this year endured a prolonged lockdown
The authorities in the city have imposed emergency travel restrictions, banning trains and flights into and out of the city, after recording 827 cases so far this month.
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Sanya is now host to about 80,000 tourists about 40 per cent of whom are trapped in their hotels, the city’s deputy mayor He Shigang told state broadcaster CCTV on Friday.
With the first case confirmed on Monday, the municipal government started imposing control measures on Tuesday, shutting down entertainment venues and bars.
As cases started to rise, many tourists cut short their holiday and tried to leave the island before tighter restrictions came into force.
Some made it out, but others were caught out by the snap lockdown that came into force at 6am on Saturday with just a few hours’ notice.
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One woman surnamed Wang told Yicai, a Shanghai-based financial outlet, that she had spent 24,000 yuan ($3,550), to fly her and her child back to Shanghai later on Saturday.
They were allowed to board the plane but were then told that their flight was not going to leave and they should wait for “further arrangements”.
Local officials told a press conference on Saturday afternoon that stranded tourists will get hotel rooms at half price during their extended stay.
The authorities have not said when travel will resume, but when it does people wishing to leave will have to show five negative PCR results taken over a seven-day period. Citywide public transport has also been suspended.
“The Covid situation in Sanya is very severe,” the city’s party secretary Ji Duanrong told the press conference. He asked for “understanding and support” from residents and visitors to help contain the virus as quickly as possible.
According to local authorities, the current wave of infections in Sanya started at a fishing port, and the virus may have come from local residents who traded with fishermen outside China.
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The outbreak in Sanya has been attributed to China’s first cases of the Omicron subvariant BA. 5.1.3.
It is slightly more contagious than previous Omicron variants, but its fatality rate is no higher and existing vaccines are still effective against it, according to Ren Dapeng, deputy director of Hainan’s disease control and prevention centre of Hainan.
