China suspends Tashkent-Xi'an flight over COVID-19 cases

China's civil aviation regulator will suspend the Uzbekistan Airways flight from Tashkent to China's Xi'an after 11 passengers tested positive for COVID-19 on a November 5 flight.

The suspension of flight HY501 from the capital of Uzbekistan to Xi'an will last four weeks from November 23, according to a statement posted on the website of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

To further contain the spread of COVID-19, the CAAC put in place a reward and suspension mechanism on June 4.

According to the policy, if all inbound passengers on an airline test negative for the novel coronavirus for three straight weeks, the carrier will be allowed to increase the number of flights to two per week.

If the number of passengers testing positive reaches five, the airline's flights will be suspended for a week. The suspension will last four weeks if the number of positive cases reaches 10.

The CAAC also said that the company is not allowed to transfer the original quota of flight HY501 to other routes.