Sichuan Airlines' Cairo-Chengdu flight suspended after 6 test positive for virus

China's civil aviation regulator ordered on Wednesday an one-week suspension of a Sichuan Airlines flight from Cairo to Chengdu in an effort to prevent imported COVID-19 cases.

Six passengers on the June 27 flight from the Egypt capital to the provincial capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province tested positive for the novel coronavirus, meeting the conditions for a "circuit breaker" suspension of the flight, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement.

In keeping with an international flight adjustment policy announced on June 4, the administration issued its second "circuit-breaker" directive and announced the one-week suspension would begin on Monday.

In early June, China eased restrictions on international passenger flights contingent on epidemic risks being under control. Authorities highlighted the "reward and circuit breaker mechanism" for carriers to increase or have flights suspended in accordance with the companies' epidemic control work.

Under the policy, airlines must suspend flights on a route for a week if five passengers test positive for coronavirus. If the number exceeds 10, the airline must suspend the flight for four weeks.

As an incentive, carriers may increase the number of international flights to two per week on a route if for three consecutive weeks no passengers test positive for the virus in nucleic acid tests.

On June 14, China's aviation regulator issued its first "circuit-breaker" directive and demanded a four-week suspension of a China Southern Airlines flight from Bangladeshi's capital, Dhaka, to Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong province as 17 passengers tested positive for the novel coronavirus.