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

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All flights to and from Sanya airport were suspended at short notice on Saturday morning. Photo: Weibo

Published: 5:33pm, 7 Aug 2022Updated: 7:58pm, 15 Aug 2022

Tens of thousands of Chinese tourists have been stranded in the popular resort town of Sanya by a Covid-19 outbreak.

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.

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.

Anecdotal evidence suggests a lot of the stranded tourists were Shanghaiers trying to recover from the strains of the city’s prolonged lockdown on the beaches of Hainan.

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.