Tourists line up to receive nucleic acid tests at a testing site in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Aug. 7, 2022. Prevention and control measures have been taken in Sanya to fight against the new resurgence of COVID-19 in the city. Photo: Xinhua

The number of emerging COVID-19 cases is still at a high level in South China's Hainan Province, and 13 cities and counties have reported new infections. A total of 1,507 positive cases have been detected in the flare-up that started on August 1, Hainan authorities said on Monday. 

So far, at least 11 cities and counties in the province have announced a temporary lockdown to curb the spread of the virus. Chinese experts said it will take time to observe the trend of this flare-up, but generally it's under control.

The epidemic has entered a stage of rapid growth, with a high risk of community transmission, and the epidemic situation in the province is still complex, according to the local authorities on Monday. As of 7 am on Monday, a total of 250 regions have been designated as high-risk and 145 as medium risk in the province.

This wave of the outbreak was originally discovered in Sanya, a resort city with large numbers of tourists. The city has detected 824 confirmed cases and 419 asymptomatic carriers since August 1, according to the authorities. 

The "Hawaii of China" announced the activation of temporary regional lockdown measures starting from Thursday to contain the spread of the virus. About 80,000 tourists are reportedly stranded due to the epidemic, and Sanya announced on Saturday hotel concessions to ease their financial burden.

Along with Sanya, at least 10 other areas including Haikou, capital of the province, Qionghai, Wanning and Wuzhishan have announced similar lockdown measures to curb the spread of the virus. 

A local resident in Haikou told the Global Times that life has been relatively "normal" in recent days. Haikou conducted a temporary lockdown on Monday from 6 am to 7 pm. The city lifted the lockdown in the evening after conducting more than 2.48 million nucleic acid samplings tests in the second round, according to the Haikou authorities.

The Hainan provincial authorities said on Monday that they have set up special plans to allow tourists to leave, and will also crack down on illegal activities such as price gouging and profiteering.

The stranded tourists should be "scientifically classified" based on the evaluations of the epidemic risk level, Lu Hongzhou, head of the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen, told the Global Times on Monday. 

For instance, tourists can be classified as those who didn't go to the high-risk regions, those who were from regions with positive cases and those who were close contacts of positive cases, according to Lu. They should follow the local epidemic prevention rules to leave the region in an orderly manner after undergoing nucleic acid tests or being quarantined, Lu said.

A tourist who arrived at Sanya and checked into a low-risk hotel in Haitang Bay on Wednesday successfully returned home on Saturday from Haikou airport. 

"I spent around 7,700 yuan ($1,138) for us including two adults and two kids for the tickets from Haikou to Nanjing," the tourist told the Global Times on Monday. When arriving at Nanjing airport, we were required to do nucleic acid tests immediately, and the procedures from Haikou to Nanjing were smooth, the tourist said. 

More than 8,500 medical staff from 18 provinces and cities in China will be dispatched to support the epidemic prevention and control measures in Hainan, with the capacity of nucleic acid testing set to reach 1.99 million samples per day. As of 12 pm on Monday, nearly 7,000 medical staff have arrived in the province, according to the authorities.