China s Hainan, an island province that relies on tourism, locked down more areas on Monday as it battles its worst coronaviruses outbreak after seeing very few cases the past two years, according to state media.
The island in the South China Sea, which had only two local symptomatic Covid 19 cases last year, reported more than 1,400 domestically transmitted infections this month, including 982 symptomatic ones. Although it is small by global standards, it is the province's biggest outbreak since it was first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.
The increase in cases comes due to a boost in interest in tourism after China eased curbs aimed at domestic travel, accounting for the shorter incubation period of the omicron variant, which allows for a shorter quarantine time.
The curbs in Hainan are in line with China's Covid-zero policy that aims to stamp out outbreaks as soon as possible, and point to persistent uncertainty shrouding travel. That may hurt confidence in the tourism and hospitality sectors, which are particularly vulnerable to Covid restrictions.