This file photo taken on Aug. 28, 2014 shows a China Eastern Airlines plane taking off. (Photo: Xinhua)

China Eastern Airlines announced on Friday that it would suspend flights MU211 and MU212 between Shanghai and Manila, the Philippines, effective from Friday following Shanghai’s reporting of 12 imported cases of COVID-19, nine from the Philippines, two from Jamaica and one from India.

This is the latest international flight “circuit breaker” to be triggered as China looks to prevent imported cases of COVID-19 from entering the country.

China’s civil aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), on June 4 introduced incentives and “circuit breaking” measures on inbound flights, which suggest that if the number of passengers that test positive for nucleic acid testing after entry reaches five on the same flight, the flight will be suspended for one week, and if the number reaches 10, the flight will be suspended for four weeks.

China Eastern Airlines announced that it will keep a close eye on the risks of possible imported cases on related flights and make discreet assessments. The flights will not resume until all risks are controlled, the airlines stated. 

The Philippines reported a total of 276,289 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, with 3,375 new cases on Thursday, according to its health department. 

The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines on Wednesday reported that two Chinese returnees from the Philippines lied about their COVID-19 symptoms and positive test results before boarding flights back to China.  

The two Chinese people, surnamed Tang and Yu, produced negative nucleic acid test reports, but were diagnosed with COVID-19 after they arrived in China, the embassy said on its WeChat account on Wednesday.

The embassy re-checked their test results and found they had actually tampered with their test reports in the Philippines, changing them from positive to negative so they could get permission to fly home, it said.

The embassy said it had informed the Chinese public security department about the incident. Those involved in the falsification of test results would be investigated for legal responsibility according to law, it added.