BEIJING, Jan 16 (APP): The flights of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Air China, Turkish Airlines, Egypt Airlines and Sichuan Airlines to China were suspended by China’s civil aviation regulator after several passengers tested positive for COVID-19 during recent flights.
Pakistan International Airlines’ Islamabad-Xi’an flight PK854 will be suspended for four weeks starting January 18 after 10 passengers tested positive on the January 2 flight, according to an announcement of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
A total of five passengers tested positive on Air China’s Johannesburg-Shenzhen flight CA868 on December 31, 2020, and the flight will be suspended for two weeks starting January 18, it added.
On January 16, the Chinese authorities issued four fusing instructions for Turkish Airlines flight TK72 Istanbul-to Guangzhou, Egyptian Airlines flight MS958 Cairo to Guangzhou, Air China flight CA946 Karachi to Xian and Sichuan Airlines flight 3U8392 Cairo to Chengdu.
On December 30, there were five nucleic acid test positive passengers of Turkish Airlines and six nucleic acid test positive passengers of Egyptian airlines. Since January 18, the two flights will be suspended for two weeks.
One January 2, there were nine nucleic acid positive passengers of Air China flight from Karachi to Xian and as a result, the flight will be suspended from January 18 for two weeks.
On the same date, there were five nucleic acid positive passengers of Sichuan Airlines flight from Cairo to Chengdu. Since January 25, the flight will continue to be suspended for two weeks.
It may be mentioned here that on December 16, 2020, the CAAC updated the reward and suspension mechanism introduced in June last year to further contain the spread of COVID-19.
According to the latest CAAC policy, the suspension of flights will be extended from one week to two weeks if the number of passengers testing positive reaches five.
The suspension will last for four weeks if the number of passengers who test positive for COVID-19 reaches 10.
