BREAKING! Pneumonic Plague Hits China, Hainan Lockdown Reported as 500K Russian Tourists Flock In

Reports recently emerged of a lockdown lasting at least nine days in central Sanya, Hainan. The large influx of Russian tourists has fueled fear among local residents. A person in Sanya's Jiang district said on October 29 that an emergency notice suddenly appeared in their dormitory group chat. It said the entire dormitory complex would immediately go into lockdown. Anyone who needed supplies had to shop that evening. Once the lockdown began, no one could leave. Police would stand guard under unusually stripped controls. Anyone who was away had to be called back immediately, and their return had to be reported. Otherwise, police would be notified. The notice stressed that no one could leave, everyone had to return quickly, and that all the rules had to be followed. Other reports that day said living quarters and project offices at the Polyphoenix Hotel in Sanya had gone into lockdown because Russian visitors had brought in plague. The controls at the site drew attention. Chat screenshots show that the living quarters and project offices at the Polyphoenix Hotel in Sanya were under a temporary lockdown lasting at least three days. Police were on guard and meals were delivered. A notice in the hotel's management group said project managers ordered a full lockdown after receiving a meeting notice from government officials and the property owner. Staff were told to buy essential supplies that evening. The notice covered movement, shopping for essentials, and daily meals. The restrictions directly affected the short-term living arrangements of those involved. An extended siren in Sanya on October 29th sparked fear. A local resident posted a video. I don't know what's happening. It's been going on for more than 10 minutes. I hope everyone is safe. A person posted on X on October 30th that people in Sanya's Jiang district had undergone PCR testing and centralized quarantine because of dengue fever. Some had already spent nine days in quarantine. Asked how long it would last, the city's health commission said it would depend on the situation. The district government running the centralized housing would make the decision. Many people online questioned whether dengue fever warranted such alarm. They said it was common in Southeast Asia and did not see it as a major concern. Others speculated that plague was spreading. A person posted on Douyin on October 25th that quarantine had begun in Sanya. They wanted to know what was happening, saying, One building in our complex is under quarantine. We can still order food delivery and go downstairs. They also asked whether other neighbors had similar restrictions. Another person posted on October 25th, saying Sunbei Road in Sanya is closed. Don't come here. There's a barrier up ahead. Look, all the cars are turning back. Chinese Communist Party authorities are suppressing information about the Sanya lockdown. That has deepened anxiety, especially with so many Russians arriving in the The latest figures from the Hainan Tourism Development Bureau show that the province recorded over 1.4 million inbound tourist visits from January through September 2026, up 43.1% from a year earlier. Russian visitors accounted for 572,500 visits, an increase of 68%, making up 40% of the total. Russians now crowd airport shuttles in Sanya, restaurants in shopping malls, and the beach at Dazhonghai. Signs in Russian are everywhere in shopping centers. Restaurant menus are in Chinese and Russian. Many restaurants accept rubles, and even public announcements have Russian versions. A person posted on X on October 28th, wondering whether Russians were settling in Sanya. They said Russians were everywhere downtown, with more buses taking them to every part of the city each day. Russians were shopping at supermarkets, eating at restaurants, and riding public buses on their own. Chinese businesses in Sanya were learning Russian. Even older women running roadside stalls were calling out to customers in Russian. The person also wondered whether entry restrictions had been eased for Russians. One person joked that Sanya's beaches has just two kinds of people, Russians turning red in the sun and people from northeastern China learning Russian. The plague concerns in Russia involve Irkutsk. The city has direct flights to seven Chinese cities, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Harbin, Hefei, Manchuria and Sanya. Direct flights between Sanya and Irkutsk began in March 2026, just over six months ago. The flight takes a little over five hours. Before the route opened, tourists had to connect through other Chinese cities, spending seven or eight hours on the trip. Winter temperatures in Irkutsk fall well below zero degrees Fahrenheit. Sanya's temperatures of around 68 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit are a major draw. Even before direct flights began, many people from Irkutsk flew there for the winter. Passenger traffic is growing faster now that the route is open. News of unexplained pneumonia in Irkutsk has fueled fear. Staff at the Plague Research Institute work with pathogens that cause highly dangerous infectious diseases every day. If something went wrong and an infection spread, the consequences could be severe. A vacation rental operator in Sanya said bookings from Russian tourists during the winter alone could account for one-third of annual revenue. After seeing the online reports over the past two days, some people had spent private messages asking whether they should cancel existing Russian bookings out of concern that something might happen. Some people had already raised concerns online that the winter influx of Russian tourists could bring pathogens with them. They asked whether disease controls at ports of entry should be strengthened. The situation surrounding the plague concerns in Irkutsk is growing more serious amid a lack of transparency from the Russian government. A female researcher identified as Daria Shibalova died of pneumonia of unknown cause on October 2nd. She worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Center in Russia. Her death prompted speculation that she had died of pneumonic plague. Russian authorities said tests found no plague or other high-risk pathogens, and that the cause of death remained under investigation. But discussion of the case has continued to grow. Whether Shibalova died of pneumonic plague remains a question. She worked at an institute that studies plague and showed symptoms of a severe lung infection. The incubation period, severity, and high death rate described are all consistent with pneumonic plague Multiple sources, including independent Russian media, indicate that a second infected person died in a hospital. The report provided no further details, including the second person's age, name, occupation, onset of symptoms, or positive plague test results. Russia's Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being denied it. The agency said no other employees at the institute had become ill and sought medical care. It said the initial patient had unknown pneumonia, and all close contacts tested negatives for the plague pathogen. Other troubling accounts have appeared online in Russia. An anonymous post sought help for a 12-year-old boy nicknamed Maksimka, who had developed a cough, high fever, and vomiting after coming home from school. His illness was initially treated as a common cold, but after a medical visit, he was quickly transferred to an infectious disease hospital and diagnosed with plague. His parents were quarantined, ordered to list their contacts from the previous three days, and told to keep the matter strictly confidential. The document in the post is a standard Russian emergency notification form for infectious diseases. It lists the child's birthday as January 15, 2014, and a diagnosis related to plague. The illness onset and medical visit dates fall around October 6 and 7. It also bears a hospital stamp and a doctor's signature. The information in that post has not been verified either. Still, these accounts of cases have drawn widespread attention and concern. Despite public calls from the World Health Organization, Russian officials have remained silent for weeks about what happened and whether there are other cases. U.S. virology expert Shan Lin said the biggest issue is not that Russia has confirmed plague, but that information about the cause of death remains unclear. He said that with modern molecular biology, simply calling it unknown pneumonia is no longer an adequate explanation. Some countries and regions have stepped up precautions. Hong Kong's health authorities have increased health monitoring for travelers arriving from Russia and asked them to report health concerns voluntarily. The Disease Control Center in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, has also issued a plague prevention alert. A suspected plague death emerged in Chengdu two weeks ago, with officials saying the information was confidential. The report spread on social media and sparked fear among residents. A Chengdu resident called Sun spoke to the Epoch Times on October 16th. He said he had gone to a hospital with fever. A doctor there told him that someone in Shuangliu district had fallen ill and died after returning from Russia. Sun said, I went to the fever clinic at Shuangliu Second People's Hospital on the 11th because I had a fever from influenza A. From my conversation with the doctor, it was pretty much established that the person had returned from Russia and that it might have been something to do with the plague. He added, I had to register my information when I bought a thermometer at a pharmacy. It seems that's been required lately. Then the local disease control center called me and asked me about symptoms associated with plague. They didn't mention plague by name, but that's what the symptoms were. Sun said the doctor asked whether he had a red rash but did not order a plague test. He believed the doctor may have been using his symptoms to decide whether further screening was needed. Earlier, someone identifying themselves as a worker at a Chinese biosafety level 4 lab posted on WeChat Moments that Shanghai and Chongqing had each recorded one death from pneumonic plague. Both patients had entered China from Russia. Those reports remain unverified. After three years of strict zero COVID controls and their abrupt removal, many people in China have grown skeptical of official accounts from the Chinese Communist Party. During the pandemic, authorities systematically concealed or downplayed case numbers, deaths, and chains of transmission. That history has left a deep belief that official figures show only part of the picture, and that conditions may be far worse. That distrust has a history. When unexplained pneumonia first appeared in Wuhan in late 2019, local doctors' warnings were treated as rumors. Whistleblowers, including Dr. Li Wenliang, were reprimanded. The Huanan Seafood Market was quickly presented as the official origin site. Meanwhile, evidence that the virus had been spreading in the community weeks before the market reported cases was repeatedly concealed. As questions about plague emerge in Sanya, COVID is surging again in China, alongside frequent accounts of sudden deaths. Outbreak is especially severe in the South. People across the country have posted on social media that they or people around them have tested positive or become infected again. We're all talking about COVID-19 in October. Everyone's talking about COVID this October and I caught it too. On the first day, my throat felt uncomfortable, like a cold. Then I felt weak all over and developed a fever. That evening, I got an injection and some medicine. I woke up in the middle of the night and my throat felt like I'd swallowed razor blades. It hurt so much I couldn't eat anything. The next day, I got another injection and more medicine. I felt a little better but the fever kept coming back. It's already day 4 and my throat still feels like it's being cut. I can't eat anything. I don't know what's happening or when I'll get better. I can't take it anymore. I've been sick at home for several days. I've been sick at home for several days. Now I'm coughing toward the end of it. I don't know what this virus is called, but it's been awful. On the second day, all my joints hurt. I think this is day four or five. My joints don't hurt anymore. Yesterday, my throat felt like razor blades were cutting it. It feels better today, but I'm coughing. I'm hoping that means I'm almost better. Traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Yao Xiaodong posted a video warning on October 13th. 2026年新冠又爆发了记住千万 COVID has broken out again in 2026. Cases are rising in October. Many people start with a stuffy nose, sneezing, and a sore throat. Then they develop a high fever and a cough with no improvement for more than 10 days. Remember, don't just try to tough it out and don't buy medicine at random. Keep commonly used medicines at home to help older people and children suffer less. Reports recently emerged that Hainan province had resumed blood tests, PCR testing, and quarantine measures. With infection surging, local governments have repeatedly assigned blood donation quotas to produce life-saving treatments such as immunoglobulin. A nine-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl in Hong Kong recently fell ill and died within days. Authorities attributed their deaths to complications from pneumococcal infection and influenza A, respectively. A health commission employee using the pseudonym Mr. Lee said COVID cases were continuing to rise. Internal estimates point to a repeat of the surge seen when restrictions were lifted in late 2022. He said infection disrupts the immune system and weakens the body's defenses against other pathogens, driving increases in all infectious diseases. Mr. Li said it's already severe in the South. Hainan has started PCR testing again. There's Shenzhen and Dongguan in Guangdong, those places closest to Hong Kong. If you get infected, there's a very real chance you could die, whatever your age. Don't think this only affects older people. The 9-year-old and 12-year-old in Hong Kong died. Protect yourself. If you don't get infected, you'll be fine. Video circulating online show government offices, public institutions, neighborhoods, and schools organizing blood donations. Many people have accused hospitals of taking too much blood. They describe having several tubes drawn during routine checkups, prenatal visits, medical appointments or hospital stays. One person said 10 tubes were taken during tests for high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol. Another said a hospital took 13 tubes at once. Mr. Li said blood was in short supply for producing life-saving treatments. He said Chinese communist government agencies had assigned blood donation quotas and were offering donors rewards and time off. Mr. Li said So many people are infected now. Many workplaces have already assigned quotas, so people have to donate blood. It's used to extract immunoglobulin and albumin for wealthy people. Immunoglobulin costs 3,000 to 5,000 yuan per bottle. An ICU patient gets 8 bottles a day for 7 days. That comes to over 100,000 yuan, or about 14,000 US dollars, with no insurance Reference reimbursement. A doctor in Hebei using the pseudonym Dr. Wang said the outbreak was more severe in the south than in the north. He urged retired people in the north to think carefully before traveling south for the winter. He said the emerging PJ2.1 variant was spreading rapidly and that infected people over the age of 40 faced a high risk of severe illness and disability. Dr. Wang said internal information shows a rapid rise. Don't go south. They aren't releasing COVID information or or talking about it anymore. They're calling it something else. If you talk about it, you're treated as though you've committed a crime. You can't even mention it. That's why most people are ignoring it. Dr. Wang said internal data showed persistently high infection levels in Sichuan, Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, and Taiyuan, Shaanxi, as well as in the south. Heart conditions were the leading complications after infection. Funeral industry workers also confirmed a recent increase in sudden deaths from heart attacks. Mr. Chen, a funeral industry worker in Taiyuan, Shanxi said, a lot of younger people have died lately. Most were under 50, in their 40s or 30s. There have also been quite a few sudden heart attack deaths over the past two days. The other day at the hospital, ambulances brought in 20 people in a day. That gives you an idea of how common these complications are. The rise in China's COVID positivity rate is another reminder that the virus has never disappeared and that information is still being concealed. If the Chinese Communist Party continues to block information, another crisis could follow, with consequences for the entire world.