More than 60 per cent of commercial flights in and out of Beijing have been cancelled as the Chinese capital raised its alert level Wednesday against a new coronavirus outbreak while other nations confronted rising numbers of illnesses and deaths.
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China raised its emergency warning to its second-highest level and cancelled more than 60 per cent of the flights in and out of Beijing on Wednesday amid a new coronavirus outbreak in the capital. It was a sharp pullback for the nation that declared victory over COVID-19 in March and a message to the rest of the world about how tenacious the virus really is.
The virus prevention and control situation in Beijing was described as “extremely grave” at a meeting of Beijing’s Communist Party Standing Committee led by the city’s top official, Party Secretary Cai Qi.
“This has truly rung an alarm bell for us,” Cai told participants.
The website of the Communist Party’s Global Times said 1,255 flights to and from the capital’s two major airports were scrapped by Wednesday morning. Beijing Capital Airport is traditionally the world’s second-busiest in passenger capacity.
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No official public notice on a change in regulations has been issued by China’s civil aviation authority or by either Beijing Capital Airport or Beijing Daxing International Airport. But Beijing Capital said on its microblog it expected to handle 500 flights on Wednesday, sharply lower than in recent days.
The cancellations are among a number of limits on travel in and out of the city, especially in hot spot areas. Beijing had essentially eradicated local transmissions until recent days, recording 137 new cases since late last week.
On Wednesday, the city of 20 million people raised its threat level from 3 to 2, leading to the cancellation of classes, suspended reopenings and stronger requirements for social distancing. China had relaxed many of its coronavirus controls after the ruling Communist Party declared victory over the virus in March.
Since the coronavirus emerged in China late last year and spread worldwide, more than 8.1 million people have contracted it, according to Johns Hopkins. The university has tallied more than 440,000 deaths from the disease it causes, COVID-19.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and lead to death.
Globally, 8.2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been recorded, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Nearly 85,000 of those cases are in China, where there have been more than 4,600 deaths.
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