Beijing cancels flights to control fresh outbreak
1,255 flights scrapped after Chinese capital reports 31 new virus infections
BEIJING: Beijing’s airports cancelled two-thirds of all flights on Wednesday and schools in the Chinese capital were closed again as authorities rushed to contain a new coronavirus outbreak and warned infections may rise. The city reported 31 new cases on Wednesday while officials urged residents not to leave Beijing. The capital city has reported 137 infections over the past six days.
BEIJING: Beijing raised its emergency warning to its second highest level and cancelled more than 60% of all flights on Wednesday amid a new coronavirus outbreak. As many as 1,255 flights to and from the Chinese capital’s major airports were scrapped by Wednesday morning.
Beijing reported 31 new cases of Covid-19 in the previous 24 hours on Wednesday, four more than the day before, taking the total number to 137 in six days as city authorities raced to contain the fresh cluster of infections.
Beijing will enforce outbreak prevention measures in farmers’ markets, restaurants, canteens, and strengthen monitoring.
The city said certain team sports such as basketball, football and volleyball will come to a halt. Venues of cultural entertainment, swimming pools and gyms will remain closed. Interprovincial group tours have been halted.
Overall, 44 confirmed cases, including 11 imported and 33 local ones were reported from mainland China in the past 24 hours. Out of these, 31 cases are in Beijing, one in the neighbouring province of Hebei and one in eastern China’s Zhejiang province Late on Tuesday, city authorities raised the emergency response level back to the second highest from third, less than two weeks after it had lowered it to the least after Beijing reported no new cases for almost two months.
Beijing has given nucleic acid tests to 356,000 people since Saturday, said Zhang Qiang, an official with Beijing’s Covid-19 prevention team.
Zhang added that the city will complete testing of a further 355,000 people linked to the Xinfadi wholesale market.
The late-night announcement on Tuesday shut down all schools, and banned residents from middle and high-risk areas from leaving the city. Those who must travel out of Beijing need to present a negative nucleic acid test result conducted within seven days prior to departure.