NO WAY OUT

Thousands of Tourists Trapped in Chinese Resort by Extreme Covid Lockdown Policy

An outbreak of COVID cases was met with sweeping restrictions in the region.

More than 2,000 vacationers are stuck in a southern Chinese resort town as authorities continue to pursue a hard-line zero-COVID policy with stringent lockdowns. After more than 500 COVID cases were reported last week in Beihai—a popular destination for visitors to the Guangxi region—parts of the city were ordered to shut down Saturday, with mass testing and orders prohibiting residents from leaving their homes coming into force. The restrictions also affected Weizhou island, around an hour’s boat ride off the coast; on Friday, tourists were told to leave for the mainland and hotels and guesthouses were ordered to give unconditional refunds to all their visitors.