A policeman takes a crew member's temperature aboard an international cargo flight. Photo: Courtesy of the Shanghai Airport Immigration Inspection Station.

The Chinese civil aviation regulator has suspended relevant international flights and authorities in Shanghai will further strengthen closed-loop management as there have recently been increasing imported cases of COVID-19 on some inbound flights to Shanghai, the local authorities announced on Monday.

18 new imported cases of the coronavirus from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were reported in Shanghai on Sunday, said the Shanghai Health Commission on Monday.

Among the 18 cases, three of them are Chinese citizens working in the UAE who arrived at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport on August 6, and later were confirmed as having contracted the disease.

The other 15 cases are Chinese citizens from the UAE who arrived at Pudong airport on August 7 after transferring from Sri Lanka, and were later diagnosed. 

Chinese civil aviation regulator has suspended the relevant flights to curb imported cases of COVID-19 in Shanghai, reported Shanghai Fabu, the official social media account of Shanghai municipal government.

Since Monday, Shanghai has continued to report new imported cases of COVID-19. There are so far 48 imported cases receiving medical treatment in two designated hospitals, all of which are mild and normal cases.

Further remote-control measures for international flights will be carried out, and the relevant authorities will strengthen pre-boarding quarantine and verification of valid certificates for negative nucleic acid testing, according to the Shanghai authorities.

The relevant authorities in Shanghai will strictly implement measures such as boarding quarantine, clarifying health certificates, temperature checking, and epidemiological investigation for inbound flights and entry personnel. Those with fevers and other symptoms will be directly transported to designated medical institutions for diagnosis and treatment under closed-off management. 

The authorities have also carried out nucleic acid testing for the all inbound personnel. All close contacts of the passengers on the planes have been quarantined for medical observation; they will be immediately sent to designated medical institutions for follow-up treatment if any symptoms are discovered.