Why 80,000 tourists are stranded in 'China's Hawaii'

Five negative RT-PCR tests over seven days is mandatory for every traveler before they are allowed to leave China's Sanya.

Stella Dey

August 09, 2022 / 13:43 IST

Sanya is a popular beach town in China's Hainan province.

Tens and thousands of tourists flocked the beach town of Sanya, also known as “China’s Hawaii” to escape brutal lockdowns for a much-needed getaway only to be stranded there as coronavirus cases spiralled.

A popular destination for Chinese families, Sanya is known for its sandy beaches and duty-free shopping. Now, it has turned into a lockdown zone as authorities cancelled all trains and flights after 263 cases were reported on Saturday, stranding over 80,000 tourists. As of Monday, Sanya recorded over 500 cases.

Five negative RT-PCR tests over seven days is mandatory for every traveler before they are allowed to leave. The strict rule is owed to China’s “zero Covid” policy – the only major economy to still implement it. China has also been criticized for its extremely rigid lockdowns – especially Shanghai – that emerged from a two-month lockdown recently.

These restrictions come during peak tourism season in the popular destination.

Sanya is home to a million people and is the capital of Hainan province, off China’s southern coast. As cases drastically rose in the last few days, authorities launched severe steps to curb the spread. Mass testing was ordered across the city and all outdoor activities such as bars and restaurants were shut on Saturday. A sub-variant of the highly infectious Omicron strain is reportedly the reason behind the fresh outbreak.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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