Shanghai cancels more than 500 flights following coronavirus outbreak



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One of the world’s busiest airports in Shanghai, China, canceled more than 500 flights on Tuesday as the city tried to contain a recent coronavirus outbreak.

“On Tuesday, figures from data services firm VariFlight showed more than 500 flights from Pudong Airport were canceled – nearly half of the day’s scheduled flights,” Agence France reported. -Press (AFP). “Almost half of scheduled incoming flights have also been canceled.”

“Variflight reported the cancellation of more than 40% of flights from Monday to [Pudong] airport, one of the busiest in the world and a key gateway for international flights during the pandemic, ”Channel News Asia (CNA) reported.

The coastal city documented seven new cases of local coronavirus linked to the airport this month, with most of the infections recorded in the past few days. In response to the cluster outbreak, city health officials have launched a massive coronavirus testing campaign for staff at Pudong, Shanghai’s largest international airport.

“On the night of Sunday to Monday (November 23), workers in full protective gear drove staff from Pudong International Airport to a multi-storey parking lot to be tested for the virus, with videos posted online by Shanghai health authorities showing dozens of people showing up at the facility, ”CNA reported.

“More than 17,700 people had been swabbed Monday morning to test airport cargo personnel,” the state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. The results of the coronavirus test had come back negative on more than 11,500 swabs as of November 23.

“The confirmed cases were only found in the cargo handling area of ​​the airport, and the passenger area of ​​the airport is not affected,” the vice president of the Airport Authority said on Monday. from Shanghai, Zhou Junlong.

Quoting Zhou, Xinhua reported that freight workers in Pudong will receive regular coronavirus tests in the future. Airport staff in high-risk positions will also receive China’s experimental coronavirus vaccine candidate, developed by state-owned Sinopharm, the news agency added.

Since July, China has administered the experimental coronavirus vaccine to some of the country’s medical workers and border officials, as well as state employees and international students traveling abroad.

The port city of Tianjin in northern China is currently carrying out mass coronavirus tests similar to those seen in Shanghai this week. Tianjin reported five new coronavirus infections on November 21, with an additional case reported on November 24. Chinese state media reported that “2.6 million people are tested” in Tianjin for coronavirus after health officials discovered the new cluster of infection, according to CNA. Nearly half of all scheduled flights were canceled at Tianjin International Airport on Tuesday as part of containment measures, according to AFP.

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