Hainan, in the South China Sea, went into lockdown on Saturday. Tourists, mostly from other parts of the country, cannot leave and are waiting to be stuck in hotels. The sale of train tickets to mainland China has been suspended – according to state broadcaster CCTV – and data from Variflight shows that 80% of flights to and from the island capital of Sanya are cancelled. Many people believed the island was a safe choice for their holiday as it had only recorded two positive symptomatic cases of Covid in all of 2021 following strict quarantine rules and restrictions on tourism since the start of the pandemic. But in the first week of this month, the number of cases has soared to more than 1,000 and tourists are expected to stay on the island at least until the weekend. Sanya reported 689 symptomatic and 282 asymptomatic cases. Other cities around Hainan province — including Danzhou, Dongfang, Lingshui and Lingao — have reported more than a dozen cases over the same period. Meanwhile, the whole of China recorded a total of 1,376 symptomatic cases and 2,508 asymptomatic cases between August 1 and 7 – according to Worldometer data. On Saturday, the first day of Hainan’s lockdown, the Sanya government pledged that tourists whose flights were canceled would be able to book half-price hotel rooms. However, dozens of tourists on Sunday complained on social media platform WeChat that their hotel rates were not discounted. Businesswoman Yang Jing lives in a four-star hotel with her husband and child and must live off instant noodles to cut down on expenses. The 40-year-old from southern China’s Jiangxi province told Reuters: “This is the worst holiday of my life.” A foreign tourist, who lives in China, was on his honeymoon in Sanya. He said stranded tourists have to pay higher prices for food delivery fees and hotel meals, while food supplies at his hotel are running low. “We just hope it doesn’t turn into another Shanghai,” he added, referring to the city’s two-month lockdown imposed on April 1. Another tourist, a woman from the eastern province of Jiangsu who gave only her surname Zhu, was on holiday with six relatives. He told Reuters they would “never come back”. He also told the news agency: “We are now looking for ways to complain and defend our rights, but so far no official body has contacted us or taken an interest in us.” Authorities in Sanya said the stranded tourists can leave from Saturday, provided they show five negative Covid test results each.
