Driven by a highly infectious subvariant of Omicron — which authorities blame on contact with seafood traders at a fishing port — the outbreak has infected more than 1,200 people in Sanya since Aug. 1. It has also spread to a dozen other cities and counties in Hainan, infecting more than 200 others. This is a major outbreak by the standards of China’s zero-Covid policy, which aims to quickly stamp out local outbreaks with emergency lockdowns, mass testing, widespread contact tracing and quarantine. On Saturday, the Sanya government hastily placed the city of one million people, including about 80,000 tourists, on lockdown. Visitors wishing to leave must present five negative Covid tests taken over a seven-day period, and authorities did not say when the measures would be lifted. Public transport was suspended, the movement of people within the city was restricted to emergency services and transport links were halted. More than 80% of flights departing from Sanya were canceled on Saturday, according to data from flight tracking company Variflight. All trains leaving the city were also cancelled, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Mass, sudden flight cancellations led to scenes of chaos at the airport on Saturday, when some passengers who had already boarded were ordered off the plane, according to state media reports. A video widely circulated on Chinese social media shows a local official trying in vain to calm dozens of frustrated travelers outside the airport’s police station. Speaking over a loudspeaker, the official promised the government would provide free food and hotel accommodation to travelers stranded at the airport as a squad of police officers stood around him and pushed back the crowd. “I want to go home! Go home! Go home!” the crowd chanted in response.
Forced stay
China’s borders have been closed to international tourists since the start of the pandemic, meaning tourist hotspots like Sanya are even more reliant on domestic travelers. The Sanya government said on Saturday that tourists with canceled flights could book discounted hotel rooms. But for some families, the forced week-long stay can come at a heavy price — especially as China’s economy has been hit by zero Covid. On Sunday, state news website The Paper reported that a family of 13 from the southwestern city of Chengdu would need to spend about $26,600 for an extra week at their five-star hotel, including charges of more than $100 per person for lunch and buffet dinner. The report caused an uproar on Chinese social media, with a related hashtag attracting 270 million views on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo as of Monday afternoon. Many comments expressed sympathy for the family, while others questioned why they didn’t move to a cheaper hotel. After the outcry, the family said they were able to access cheaper food options at the hotel. Other social media posts from stranded tourists in Sanya accused some hotels of raising their prices to cash in on forced stays. At a press conference on Sunday, the Sania government promised to look into the complaints. It said more than 3,200 tourists stuck at the airport on Saturday would be given seven days’ accommodation and food. And about 5,000 workers had been sent to Hainan from other parts of the country to help with a massive Covid test, officials added.
When will it finish;
For many stranded tourists, the biggest concern is whether they will be allowed to leave after seven days. They fear the lockdown could be extended if the number of infections rises despite the restrictions. Schools in China are set to reopen after summer vacation in three weeks, and some companies may not allow employees to work remotely for weeks. On Monday, Sanya Airport canceled all 418 of its flights, according to flight tracking website Variflight. Among the stranded tourists were Shanghai residents who had gone to Hainan for a summer vacation after a grueling two-month lockdown in the Chinese financial hub earlier this year. A foreign resident of Shanghai who arrived in Sanya on July 26 said he had to leave his hotel last Thursday because it had been requested by the local government as a quarantine facility. The hotel gave him only one day’s notice and let him find alternative accommodation, he said. In the past five days, he has waited in long lines for six Covid tests, he said. “This situation in the future is not sustainable,” said the tourist, who asked not to be named because of fears of a nationalist upheaval. “It’s a bit like Russian roulette as to where you go, and whether that area is going to be locked down or not.” For many travelers wary of the country’s Covid restrictions, Hainan had been considered a safe place because it had reported very few cases in the past. Other tourist hotspots have recently been hit by sharp lockdowns. Last month, more than 2,000 tourists were stranded in the southern Chinese resort of Beihai after a lockdown was imposed for more than 500 infections.
