Airlines to cut down 21% of international passenger flights

China will allow 408 scheduled international passenger flights to and from the country per week in the winter season ending in March next year, down from 644 in the summer season, China's aviation regulator said on Friday.

That is down 21.1% from a year ago when international travel remained heavily depressed due to the surging COVID-19 pandemic.

The announcement will likely douse hopes for any immediate reopening of Chinese borders as more and more countries reopen their economies. China has so far adopted a zero-COVID approach towards sporadic domestic outbreaks, which has far-reaching implications for the Chinese economy.

"The shift of season for international passenger flights will continue to be in line with the relevant requirements from epidemic prevention and control policy and transportation support," said the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in a statement on its website.

It added that scheduled international flights, which could be reduced by later cancellations, for the new season would be 2.2% of pre-COVID levels.

The CAAC said in August that weekly international flights were about 2% of 2019 levels, as more flights were suspended amid a rising number of imported COVID-19 cases.

The total number of international flights, mostly cargo flights, stood at 6,172 per week, CAAC said on Friday.

The CAAC slashed international flights in March 2020 to allay concerns over rising coronavirus infections. A so-called "Five One" policy allows mainland carriers to fly just one flight a week on one route to any country and foreign airlines to operate just one flight a week to China.

The CAAC has tweaked the policy with flight suspensions or capacity caps for airlines if a certain number of passengers are found to have been infected with COVID-19, or adding flights if an airline does not import any cases.

Air China in September told analysts it expects the CAAC to keep curbs on international passenger flights throughout the first half of 2022.

大幅减少国际航班

中国民航总局在周五（10月29日）宣布，从2021年10月31日至2022年3月26日，将执行2021／2022年冬春航季航班计划。

根据该最新计划表述，中国国际航班将会出现大幅变化，其中国际客运航班与去年同期相比减少了21.1%，等于去年每5班国际航班就有一班被彻底削减。

此外，中国以外的61家航空公司计划每周安排客运航班180班，通航47个国家的56个城市。

“国际航班换季继续严格落实疫情防控和运输保障相关要求，”中国民航局官网发布的通告指出，“客运航班量维持在疫情前的2.2%。”

也即是说，目前的国际航班数量对比疫情前，仅保留了2.2%的航班继续飞行。

Shanghai Disneyland under lockdown due to COVID-19 investigation

Shanghai Disney Resort is under temporary lockdown on Sunday evening as the resort was cooperating with pandemic investigation in another province.

"We have temporarily suspended entry into Shanghai Disneyland and Disneytown, and some attractions inside the park will also temporarily stop operating. Outdoor entertainment will continue as scheduled," the resort said in a statement on Sunday.

The Shanghai government issued an emergency notice on Sunday night, saying all those who had been to the park on October 30-31 must report to their communities and workplaces, and should immediately conduct nucleic acid tests at the nearest medical facilities.

They should stay at home for at least the first two days, and conduct nucleic acid tests on the first, second, seventh and fourteenth day, according to the notice.

紧急通告!上海迪士尼紧急停止游客进入

上海迪士尼度假区10月31日发布重要通知表示：接外省市协查通报，为配合新冠肺炎疫情流行病学调查，上海迪士尼乐园和迪士尼小镇从即刻起停止游客进入。乐园内的部分游乐设备将临时性停止运行，户外演出将继续举行。游客需严格做好佩戴口罩、保持社交距离等防控措施。

同时，所有已在乐园的游客在离园时需要在出口处接受核酸检测，并遵循疾控中心的要求相隔24小时后再做核酸检测，待两次核酸检测阴性后，做好后续12天自主健康监测。

Proportion of severe cases higher than that of any previous outbreaks

China's top health authorities said the COVID-19 epidemics in at least ten regions have been or are being brought under control but that the overall state of epidemic in the country is in a fast-developing phase and remains complicated and the proportion of severe cases in this round of epidemic resurgence is higher than that of any previous wave . 

In the past 14 days, 14 provinces in China have reported domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases. The current epidemic is still in a rapidly-developing phase and remains complicated, Mi Feng, spokesperson from China's National Health Commission said at a press conference on Saturday afternoon.

The risk of epidemic spread and spillover in China-Mongolia border city Ejin Banner, North China's Inner Mongolia have been effectively controlled as the region had reported no further cases had spilled-over cases to other regions for four days since October 25. Most new cases detected in recent days were identified at quarantined points. Previous anti-epidemic measures have proved to be effective and that viral transmission in communities have been basically controlled.

While the outbreak in the China-Russia border city of Heihe in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province is an isolated viral chain that was caused by an imported case, unrelated to those from Inner Mongolia or Gansu. 

Since October 27, the outbreak in Heihe rapidly escalated with new cases continued to be detected among mass testing, suggesting that viral spread has caused community transmission and poses risk of further spread or spill over, according to the NHC. 

Heihe reported 26 new cases on Friday. As part of anti-epidemic measures, Heihe has switched the health code of all residents in Heihe city to yellow. The traffic-light health code system is an important pass to travel around in the county.

Guo Yanhong, an official from the NHC said about 40 percent of patients discovered in this round of outbreak were elder aged 60 years old and above, a lot higher than previous infection percentage in earlier epidemics, which is said to be around 18.5 percent. 

Many of the senior citizens infected have underlying diseases so the proportion of severe cases in this round of epidemic resurgence is higher than that of previous waves, Guo noted.  

本次重症比例较以往历次疫情偏高

10月30日，国家卫生健康委医政医管局监察专员郭燕红在国务院联防联控机制新闻发布会上介绍，本轮疫情60岁以上的患者占比为40%，与以往18.5%的平均占比相比是较高的，再加上有一些老年人有基础病，因此这次的重症比例比历次疫情都偏高。

郭燕红表示，因为本轮疫情由德尔塔毒株引发，同时涉及老年旅游团队的感染，所以这次60岁以上老年人感染的比例比较高。由于这次疫情主要发生在我国西部地区，医疗服务能力相对较薄弱，因此针对本轮疫情的医疗救治按照集中患者、集中资源、集中专家、集中救治的原则，将患者集中到综合能力比较强的定点医院进行救治。

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