All traffic connections cut
Lockdown extended in “China’s Hawaii”: tens of thousands of travelers stranded
Peking. After the outbreak of the corona virus on the tropical island of Hainan, lockdowns were imposed on four other places in addition to the holiday paradise of Sanya. State media named the cities of Wanning, Danzhou, Qionghai and Lingshui on Monday. Tens of thousands of Chinese tourists are stuck in “China’s Hawaii” as flights, trains and other public transport have been halted.
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In less than a week, more than 1,100 infections were discovered on the southern Chinese island, which has ten million inhabitants, state media reported on Monday. One problem is the lack of test capacity, so the full extent is not yet known. In Sanya alone, around 30,000 tourists are stuck in hotels, while around 50,000 more are staying in their holiday apartments.
Authorities ordered hotel rates for stranded travelers to be halved. However, the party-affiliated newspaper “Global Times” reported on “individual cases” where hotels refused the price reduction or had doubled the price without further ado. The authorities wanted to take care of the reported problems, it said.
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China sticks to zero-Covid strategy
As the rest of the world tries to live with the virus, China remains committed to a strict zero-Covid strategy to nip any outbreak in the bud. Individual infections are immediately responded to with curfews, mass testing, and other restrictions. However, the measures are a burden for the second largest economy, which is only growing much more slowly.
RND/dpa
