China suspends three airlines including SriLankan over COVID-19 cases

COLOMBO (News1st): China's civil aviation regulator has announced that flights of three airlines including Sri Lankan Airlines would be suspended after several passengers tested positive for COVID-19 on recent flights. There were 23 positive cases on a SriLankan Airlines' UL866 flight on August 7, Xinhua news reported citing a statement posted by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. The infected passengers who flew from Dubai to China through Colombo did not board the flight from the Sri Lankan capital, a SriLankan Airlines official told News 1st. Accordingly, flights of SriLankan Airlines will be suspended for four weeks, while the suspension on the flights of the other two airlines will last for one week. Passenger airlines will be allowed to operate two flights a week to China if no passengers test positive for COVID-19 for two weeks consecutively, according to China's current policy. According to the policy, flights from which upto five passengers are COVID-19 patients would be suspended for a week. If the infected number is more than 10, flights would be suspended for four weeks.