(ATF) China’s aviation regulator issued its first international flight “circuit-breaker” directive on Sunday after passengers arrived in Guangzhou from Bangladesh with coronavirus.
Flights between the southern Chinese city and the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka have been halted for four weeks.
According to a notice issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, a total of 17 passengers tested positive for the virus on a flight operated by China Southern Airlines on Thursday.
As China eases restrictions on international passenger flightsit has put in place a set of risk prevention and control mechanisms to limit imported coronavirus cases. Among them are the adoption of a “reward and circuit breaker mechanism” for the carriers to increase or suspend flights in response to detected cases.
The airline must suspend the operation of the route for one week if the number of passengers who test positive for the coronavirus reaches five. If the number exceeds 10, the airline will suspend the flights for four weeks.
As an incentive, carriers will be allowed to increase the number of international flights to two per week on one route if the number of passengers who test positive on their flights stands at zero for three consecutive weeks.
