Sanya in South China's Hainan Province on Tuesday suspended onsite services at some public cultural venues and tourist attractions to reduce the risk from COVID-19 after the city detected the Omicron BA.5.1.3 strain.

As of Monday, Sanya has detected one confirmed case and four other positive cases, the Hainan authorities said on Tuesday. The confirmed patient has received three doses of COVID-19 vaccines. The patient was regarded as a mild case with low fever and is being treated in hospital. Omicron BA.5.1.3 has been detected from the confirmed patient, according to the authorities.

Sanya on Tuesday immediately adopted measures to reduce the risk from the virus including suspending business venues such as KTV, theaters, bars and other entertainment places and strengthening management over some key areas including welfare and mental health institutions.  

Sanya Mass Art Museum on Tuesday released a notice suspending onsite services including offline events, training classes and exhibition halls due to the epidemic prevention and control measures. "The resumption date will depend on the epidemic situation," an employee from Sanya Mass Art Museum told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The employees from the museum need to show a negative nucleic acid test from within 24 hours before working at the place as the region is at a low-risk level for COVID-19, the employee said.

Some other cultural venues and tourist attractions also suspended services on Tuesday including Sanya Library and Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone.

Lu Hongzhou, head of the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen, told the Global Times on Tuesday that once the epidemic is detected, the local authorities should adopt measures adhering to the dynamic zero-COVID approach to curb the virus in a timely manner.

For the long term, Lu said that more research should focus on the development of new drugs and vaccines.

Kindergartens and childcare institutions have been suspended and closed-loop management has been adopted in venues including prisons and nursing homes. All the personnel should follow the prevention and control measures such as wearing masks and taking their temperature before entering public places such as pharmacies, restaurants and wholesale markets, and 24-hour negative nucleic acid test certificates should be presented, according to the Sanya local authorities.

The city announced on Monday that passengers who leave Hainan island through Sanya need to present a nucleic acid negative certificate from within 48 hours, or present sampling records within 24 hours before boarding starting from Tuesday.