China's Covid-19 lockdown strands 25,000 tourists in Sanya resort town

China's popular tourist island of Hainan locked down more areas on Monday as it battles its worst Covid-19 outbreak after recording very few cases over the past two years, compared with many other regions in the country.

About 25,000 tourists were stranded in Sanya, the hardest-hit city in Hainan's outbreak and the island's key tourist centre, as of Sunday.

The island in the South China Sea, which recorded just two local symptomatic Covid cases last year, has reported more than 1,400 domestically transmitted infections this month, including 982 symptomatic ones.

Although that is small by global standards, it is the province's biggest outbreak since the virus was first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

The sharp increase in cases comes amid increased interest in tourism after China slightly eased curbs aimed at domestic travel, accounting for the shorter incubation period of the Omicron variant, which requires a shorter quarantine time.

READ MORE : https://www.thenationalnews.com/coronavirus/2022/08/08/chinas-covid-19-lockdown-strands-25000-tourists-in-sanya-resort-town/