Trapped in Paradise

Hainan tourism hotspot battles a new Omicron variant By Ma Miaomiao

At 4:28 p.m. on August 9, a plane carrying 125 tourists took off from Sanya Phoenix International Airport in Sanya, Hainan Province, heading for Xi’an, Shaanxi Province.

These tourists were the first to return home after getting stranded in Sanya as a result of new COVID-19 cases that began emerging on August 1.

More return journeys have been arranged for stranded tourists who passed their health checks.A system for handling applications for return tickets began to operate from August 10, said a notice from the Hainan provincial COVID-19 prevention and control headquarters.

According to the headquarters, tourists in areas that have not been affected can apply to leave the island after producing two negative nucleic acid tests within 48 hours; those in low-risk areas may resume their return journeys with the provision of three negative test results within 72 hours and screening to ensure they don’t show symptoms of infection.

As of August 11, Hainan had registered 2,721 confirmed cases and 2,257 asymptomatic infections since the first case was reported. The latest outbreak had affected 13 cities and counties across the island by that time, according to the Hainan Provincial Health Commission.

What happened?

The sudden flare-up in Hainan, caused by the Omicron BA.5.1.3 variant, started from the central fishing port of Yazhou District in Sanya. This was the first time the variant was detected in China.Experts believe the origin of the virus was contaminated imported seafood at the fishing port in Sanya or Hainan dealers who were most likely infected during transactions with overseas dealers.

The outbreak in Hainan has spread silently for some time and due to the highly transmissible nature of the Omicron variant, the COVID-19 situation in the province is complicated, severe and developing, according to Guo Yanhong, an official with the bureau of medical administration under the National Health Commission (NHC).

To fight the resurgence, Sanya, a popular tropical getaway, implemented static management from August 6 and restricted the movement of people,including a stoppage of urban public transport, with a waiver for basic social services and emergency transport.

Along with Sanya, at least 10 other areas in the province including Haikou, capital of the province, Qionghai, Wanning and Wuzhishan have announced similar static management measures to curb the spread of the virus.

The latest COVID-19 outbreak in Sanya is still evolving at a high level, said Mi Feng, a spokesperson for the NHC. Saying that working groups have been dispatched to the affected regions to aid containment efforts, Mi reiterated the importance of guarding against imported cases and domestic resurgences and adhering to the dynamic zero-COVID-19 policy.

Quick response

David Rong (pseudonym) and his girlfriend were set to fly home from Sanya after their five-day holiday, but were unable to board the flight.

“We were already lining up at the gate, and the flight before ours took off as scheduled. But we were told all flights after that had been canceled,”he told CGTN. They then ended up checking into a hotel designated by the local government.

Rong was among the 80,000-plus tourists that were reportedly stranded in Sanya.

A task force was established to resolve issues faced by those tourists, such as travel refunds. “Hotels should provide tourists a halfprice discount. After completing the seven-day risk assessment, tourists can leave,” Ji Duanrong,Secretary General of the Sanya Municipal Government, said at a press briefing on August 7.

“Our rooms are subsidized so we pay about half the normal price. The hotel has a shuttle bus that takes us to a COVID-19 testing site. That saves us some trouble, so we are just going to stay here and wait for more updates,” Rong said.

Medics are working around the clock at testing sites across the city. Wei Dixia, a head nurse at Sanya People’s Hospital, said the testing site at her hospital opens 24 hours a day and can take samples of around 4,000 people per day. The process has become more efficient, with results issued six to eight hours after testing, Wei added.

As the province’s medical resources are below the national average, the NHC has also sent medics from around the country to help Hainan.

So far, more than 10,000 medical workers from 19 provinces and regions have been dispatched to Hainan to assist in its fight against the outbreak.Among them, nearly 8,000 were to help with nucleic acid testing, increasing the province’s testing capacity to 2.4 million tubes per day.

The key is to ensure the efficiency and quality of tests to identify positive cases as soon as possible, Guo said. Quick contact tracing and quarantining of people at risk are also important in containing the outbreak, she added.

A total of 33 hotels with over 6,900 rooms have been designated as isolation sites for close and secondary contacts of COVID-19 cases, according to Ji.

Some tourists complained on social media that hotel prices were still high despite the discount. In response, the local government suggested the discount be based on the original booking price, not the current retail price, adding tourists could file complaints. Local authorities are also working on detailed guidelines on hotel accommodations for people stuck in the city.

Task forces have been established to ensure sufficient daily supplies, at stable prices, can reach local residents and stranded tourists.

Contingency plans

Recent cases in tourist cities such as Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and Beihai, a seaside city in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, should have been an alert to cities that are largely dependent on tourism. They need to draft emergency plans in the event of a COVID-19 resurgence and the large-scale retention ofvisitors as a result of a possible citywide lockdown, Wang Peng, a researcher with the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told.

Inflatable COVID-19 testing labs in Sanya, Hainan Province,on August 7. Prevention and control measures are in force to fight the resurgence of COVID-19 in the city

Tourists’ accommodation, meals and mental wellbeing, especially those of children and seniors,should be the basic content of such contingency plans, Wang suggested. In addition to making corresponding preparations in advance, normal prevention and control measures, such as testing and wearing masks in public areas, should also be implemented, he added.

Gu Huimin, a professor at the School of Tourism Science at Beijing International Studies University (BISU), echoed Wang, saying what happened in Sanya has reminded scenic spots and resorts to take strict preventive measures.

Many scenic spots now require tourists to hold a 72-hour negative nucleic acid result, which should be checked on the spot, and the flow of tourists should be controlled accordingly, Wu Liyun, an associate professor at BISU, said.

Wang also believes that it is important to release public information in timely manner to prevent false rumors, and to address the demands of residents and tourists in those cities where outbreaks have occurred.

According to a routine press conference held by the epidemic prevention and control authority in Hainan on August 7, an information release platform has been launched on WeChat, China’s most popular social media app, to provide the latest data and measures taken by the province and its cities.

The provincial department of tourism, culture,television, radio and sports established a team on August 5 with personnel assigned to be on duty 24 hours a day to ensure smooth communication.

Though facing unprecedented COVID-19 pressure, China’s tourism industry is not necessarily at a standstill. Lu Hongzhou, head of the Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, toldthat the key is to confine the virus to a certain scope once infections are reported, and that it’s important to implement early detection mechanisms across crowded destinations. BR