Airports handling intl flight arrivals to Beijing rise to 16
@WeChat ID: ijobchina
Chinese
overseas students arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on
April 12. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/chinadaily.com.cn]
China will continue to divert all international flights due to arrive
in Beijing to other airports as their first port of entry, with the
list of other airports expanding from 12 to 16, China's top aviation
regulator said Monday.
According to a notice issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, starting from Monday, Shanghai, which used to handle diverted flights bound for the capital, stopped serving as the first port of entry, with Chengdu, Changsha, Hefei and Lanzhou added to the list, the administration said.
File photo shows a view of the Lujiazui area in Shanghai, east China. Photo:Xinhua
Shanghai is no longer a first entry point for international flights to Beijing, the civil regulator said on Monday.
Wuhan in Central China's Hubei province also will serve as the first back-up city to receive international arrivals, the administration said.
Since March 23, all international flights bound for Beijing have been required to be diverted to 12 designated airports, namely in Tianjin, Hohhot, Taiyuan, Shanghai Pudong, Shijiazhuang, Jinan, Qingdao,Nanjing, Shenyang, Dalian, Zhengzhou, and Xi'an for testing procedures before they are allowed to enter Beijing and beyond.
With the adjustment effective on Monday, all incoming international flights to Beijing will land at one of 16 airports, where passengers will be screened. Passengers who are cleared would then be permitted to reboard the plane, which will take them on to Beijing, it said.
The international flight diversion policy will be further adjusted in line with changes in the epidemic situation at home and abroad, it added.
All international flights to Beijing must first travel to one of
designated Chinese cities so that passengers can undergo quarantine
before they are allowed to enter the capital, to ensure no new cases
broke out in Beijing.Beijing has not reported new COVID-19 cases for 53 consecutive days as of Sunday.
Xi'an launches fifth-freedom intercontinental air cargo route
File photo by thePaper.cn
XI'AN — A fifth-freedom freight air route was launched on June 7, linking the Republic of Korea's capital Seoul, Xi'an in Northwest China, and Los Angeles in the United States.
It is the first intercontinental air route of its kind in Shaanxi province. Operated by Korean Air on Boeing 747-400F aircraft, the new all-cargo flight is expected to fly once a week, according to sources with the Airport New City in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi.
A
fifth-freedom flight is one where an airline company from one country or
region, when running an international service, gets permission to make a
stopover in a third country and take on passengers and cargo.
The
opening of the route will provide an annual airfreight capacity of
nearly 10,000 metric tons. Electronic product accessories, international
express items, e-commerce packages and fresh produce are among the main
products to be transported.
Shaanxi has previously launched a
fifth-freedom cargo flight linking Seoul, Xi'an and Vietnam's Hanoi, as
well as a fifth-freedom passenger air route between Russia's
Ekaterinburg, Xi'an and Phuket in Thailand.
The Xi'an Xianyang International Airport has so far opened 30 all-cargo air routes.
NHC lists 8 groups of people for mandatory COVID-19 tests
A medical worker with the Hanyang district center of disease control takes a throat swab sample for a COVID-19 nucleic acid test from a construction worker in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province. The tests will enhance public health security as the city resumes production. Photo: cnsphoto
Overseas returnees and medical workers are among the key groups who should take nucleic acid tests for COVID-19, according to a notice issued by the National Health Commission (NHC) on Monday, amid China's efforts to increase its testing capabilities and expand the scope of testing to consolidate the achievements made in the battle against the epidemic.
Those who have had close contact
with confirmed COVID-19 cases, patients at fever clinics and personnel
at the border epidemic inspection and control frontline are also
included in the updated NHC list.
Patients newly admitted to
hospitals and their employers, and staff at prison facilities as well as
employees at social welfare institutions and nursing homes for senior
citizens, are also among the eight groups of people who should take the
tests, the notice said.
The notice said that people outside these categories should take tests on a voluntary basis.
By
identifying the new mandatory COVID-19 testing groups, China aims to
prevent a large-scale rebound of the disease as such policies focus on
dynamic prevention against imported cases and close follow-up of
high-risk groups such as those working in correctional facilities and
nursing homes for the elderly, said Xue Lan, a professor and former dean
at the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University in
Beijing.
"selection of the eight groups of people is remarkably
precise and practical, reflecting the government's constant scientific
and responsible attitude in the viral fight," said Xue. As a leading
emergency response policy advisor, Xue teamed up with Zeng Guang, chief
epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention,
to brief national policymakers to cope with the H1N1 outbreak in 2009.
Xue
suggested that testing for these eight groups should be carried out on a
routine basis, to effectively fend off an epidemic rebound.
The
notice stated that local authorities could determine which groups of
people to prioritize for testing based on local situations.
The
NHC called for the building of laboratories in Class-III hospitals,
hospitals specializing in infectious diseases, disease control
institutions above the county level, as well as county-level hospitals
to enable them to conduct COVID-19 tests.
To lower the cost and
improve the efficiency of the tests, agencies are advised to conduct
primary tests of mixture of five to 10 samples at a time, said the
notice.
Xue emphasized that China's policymaking concerning the
diagnosis, treatment and testing for the novel coronavirus has always
followed a pragmatic approach and scientific principles, as adjustments
were made in a timely way based on the actual situation with prudence
and responsibility.
Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei
Province, the Chinese city once hardest hit by COVID-19, has screened
the entire city, completing 9.89 million nucleic acid tests between May
14 and June 1.
No confirmed cases were found, and only 300
asymptomatic patients were found. No cases of asymptomatic persons
infecting others have been found.
Xue believes that the chance of
large-scale outbreaks caused by local transmission in China is almost
zero, and therefore there would be no need to conduct tests for everyone
in the country.
"The testing for eight groups as mentioned in
the latest NHC notice would sufficiently assure the positive scene is
sustained," Xue said.
Source: By Wang Keju | chinadaily.com.cn; Xinhua; GLOBAL TIMES
END
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