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by IANS |
Beijing, Aug 8 (IANS) Sanya, a coastal resort city in China's Hainan province, has launched all-out efforts to stem its latest Covid-19 outbreak which has left over 80,000 of tourists stranded.
From August 1 to 7, Sanya registered 801 confirmed cases and 409 asymptomatic infections, the provincial health commission said on Monday.
A task force was established to resolve issues faced by the stranded tourists, such as travel refunds, reports Xinhua news agency citing the commission as saying.
The city has also ordered hotels to offer 50 per cent discounts.
Medics are working around the clock at nucleic acid testing sites across the city.
Wei Dixia, a head nurse at Sanya People's Hospital, said the testing site at her hospital opens 24 hours a day and samples around 4,000 people per day.
The screening process has become more efficient, with results now issued six to eight hours after testing, said Wei.
A total of 33 hotels with over 6,900 rooms have been designated as isolation sites for close and sub-close contacts of Covid-19 cases, according to Ji Duanrong, secretary-general of the Sanya Municipal Government.
On August 6, Sanya designated 168 areas as high-risk for Covid-19 and 67 as medium-risk.
The city has also established a task force to ensure supplies of food and necessities for residents living under closed management, Ji said.
All public transport in the city was suspended on August 6, while the Sanya airport cancelled all flights the following day, according to state television.
Last month, nearly a million people in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province where the Covid-19 pandemic was first recorded, were placed under a lockdown after four asymptomatic cases were detected.
Wuhan was also the first city to be put under harsh restrictive measures as the global pandemic broke out in early 2020.
In June, Shanghai emerged from a strict two-month lockdown, but residents were still adapting to a "new normal" of frequent mass testing.
Since the onset of the pandemic, China has reported a total of 231,266 Covid-19 cases and 5,226 deaths.
