China’s Covid cases surged to a three-month high, driven by a worsening outbreak in the tropical Hainan province that has become the country’s biggest since Shanghai was shut down in the spring.

There were 3,424 infections reported across China for Wednesday, up from 2,888 a day earlier. Of the total, 2,018 were in Hainan province, up from 1,663. The virus has continued to spread even though most of the island has been under lockdown for almost two weeks.

The outbreak in Hainan, dubbed China’s Hawaii, is concentrated in the resort city Sanya, which reported 1,231 cases for Wednesday. It has built four field hospitals as of Aug. 16, providing more than 7,000 beds. More than two thousand medical workers from Shanghai, Shandong, Guangxi and other provinces have been dispatched to Hainan to assist with the effort.  

China’s Covid czar and a vice premier, Sun Chunlan, arrived in Hainan on Aug. 13 to provide direction for the control efforts, as she has with other hotspots across the country. She said the province needed to step up its treatment and quarantine facilities, and cut community transmission.

The trip underscores the seriousness of the outbreak in the region, and concern from Beijing about Hainan’s ability to handle the virus. It is in a particularly perilous situation, trying to simultaneously contain the virus locally and ensure it isn’t carried home with departing visitors.

Sun also asked authorities to help the 150,000 tourists stranded on the island, some of whom have begun to protest after being locked down for more than 10 days. The airport in Sanya resumed operation on Monday, though there was some disruption. There were long wait times and availability was unstable, with some flights canceled, according to tourists who were still trying to leave Sanya.

Source:
courtesy of BLOOMBERG

by Linda Lew

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