Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - The beach vacation city of Sanya in southern China put a lockdown in place on Saturday and stopped all pu...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - The beach vacation city of Sanya in southern China put a lockdown in place on Saturday and stopped all public transportation to try to stop a COVID-19 outbreak during its busiest time of year.
Authorities said the restrictions would begin at 6 a.m. (2200 GMT). They said the COVID situation was "very severe" and that people's movements would be limited. It didn't say when the restrictions might end.
In a statement on the city government's WeChat account, the authorities asked the public and tourists to understand and help.
Friday saw 263 cases of COVID in the city on the island of Hainan. The government said that the Omicron subvariant BA.5.1.3 had been found.
The city is known for duty-free shopping and has several high-end hotels run by international companies like IHG and Marriott International. The lockdown comes during the city's busy tourist season.
He Shigang, the city's vice mayor, told CCTV that there were about 80,000 tourists in the city. People can only leave the Sanya if they pass two PCR tests within 48 hours.
Some places in the city started to be locked down on Thursday. On Friday, more places closed, including the duty-free malls that Chinese shoppers who can't go abroad like to visit.
