As the country's Zero-COVID-19 policy continues to disrupt companies and daily life, more than 2,000 visitors have become stuck in a resort town in southern China after officials ordered an emergency lockdown to combat a coronavirus outbreak.
On Saturday, the administration of Beihai sealed off the urban areas of the city, where its resorts and tourist attractions are located, ordered widespread testing, and prohibited residents from leaving their houses.
Beihai, a popular summer vacation spot in Guangxi known for its white-sand beach and volcanic island, has recorded more than 500 cases in the previous week, a significant outbreak by Chinese standards.
The city's more than 600,000 citizens must remain at home until Friday, with all non-essential businesses closed, despite a steady decline in infections, with only 27 new cases reported on Sunday,
The extensive COVID-19 limitations also reached Weizhou island, a remote islet with a picturesque coastline and beaches that is nearly an hour away by boat.
Beginning on Friday, travelers were instructed to leave the island, and hotels and guesthouses were obliged to issue full refunds. Weizhou island ordered the closure of all amusement outlets, including clubs, movies, massage parlors, and swimming pools.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that two officials in the city were fired from their positions for failing to take necessary measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
The abrupt closure of the popular tourist destination is the most recent illustration of the economic damage caused by China's zero-COVID-19 strategy. The Chinese economy had its worst quarterly performance in more than two years last week, following months of nationwide lockdowns.
In particular this year, China's tourism industry has been severely impacted by the seemingly endless travel restrictions and sudden lockdowns.
According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, just 160 million domestic journeys were undertaken during the May Labor Day vacation, a decrease of one-third from the same period last year.
Since the middle of June, the Chinese special administrative region, which went into lockdown on July 11, has recorded more than 1,700 COVID cases, after being virtually COVID-free since an outbreak in October 2021.
Meanwhile, over in Macau, the gambling capital launched its eleventh round of COVID-19 testing for residents on Monday and extended its shutdown of casinos and other businesses to contain its worst health crisis since the start of the pandemic.
