COVID in China: Lockdown turns tourist hotspot Sanya into nightmare for stranded visitors

The sale of rail tickets out of Sanya was suspended on Saturday and more than 80 per cent of flights to and from the tourist hub had been cancelled.

When Chinese businesswoman Yang Jing was planning this year’s summer holiday in 2021, she chose the tropical southern island of Hainan because of its nigh-perfect COVID track record.

The island in the South China Sea recorded just two positive symptomatic COVID-19 cases in the whole of last year. Fast forward to this month, however, and the number of cases has suddenly soared, prompting a lockdown in the city of Sanya and leaving tens of thousands of tourists like Yang stuck on the island.

Sanya, the island’s main tourist hub, imposed a lockdown on Saturday and restricted transport links to try to stem the outbreak, even as some 80,000 visitors were enjoying its beaches at peak season. Many are now stuck inside hotels until next Saturday, if not longer.

Yang, along with her husband and child, are staying at a four-star hotel paid out of their own pocket. The family is eating pot noodles every day to avoid spending more on food.

“This is the worst holiday of my life,” Yang, who is in her 40s and lives in Jiangxi province in southern China, told Reuters on Sunday.

Sanya reported 689 symptomatic and 282 asymptomatic cases between Aug. 1 and Aug. 7. Other cities around Hainan province, including Danzhou, Dongfang, Lingshui, and Lingao, have all reported over a dozen cases in the same period.

On Saturday, the sale of rail tickets out of Sanya was suspended, state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing the national operator, and more than 80 per cent of flights to and from Sanya had been cancelled, according to data provider Variflight.

Hainan has been closed to overseas tourists for the past two and half years since China, in response to the pandemic, stopped issuing tourist visas and implemented strict quarantine rules.