Ethiopian Airlines has been ordered by China’s civil aviation regulator to suspend flights from Addis Ababa to Shanghai in bid to prevent imported Covid-19 cases.
A total of five passengers on the October 6 flight from Ethiopia’s capital to Shanghai, as well as 10 passengers on its Oct 13 flight, tested positive for the novel coronavirus, meeting the conditions for a ‘circuit breaker’ suspension of the flight route, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
In keeping with international flights adjustment policy announced on June 4, the administration issued its ‘circuit breaker’ directive and announced the five-week suspension would begin on Monday.
The Airlines on Wednesday announced that it has received a notice from Chinese authorities regarding the suspension of the flight, as reported by state media – Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation.
Furthermore, the airlines said that the decision was made after an unspecified number of Shanghai bound Chinese passengers tested positive for the coronavirus disease.
Ethiopian Airlines requires passengers to present COVID 19 test results that show negative.
The airlines said that those passengers who tested positive at Shanghai airport had presented a negative test result from “Silk Road General Hospital.”
Silk Road General Hospital is a Chinese owned hospital in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa which was constructed in 2017 in what seems to be a pursuit of the Chinese “Belt and Road Initiative”
Following the development, Ethiopian airlines decided that it will not accept test results from the above-mentioned hospital hereafter.
MG/as/APA