File Photo: Xinhua

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) decided on Sunday to suspend the China Southern Airlines flight CZ392 from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Guangzhou for four weeks after 17 passengers on that flight tested positive for COVID-19, the CAAC said.

This is the first order for the suspension of the flight since the CAAC launched the notice for imposing incentives and circuit breaking measures on inbound flights on June 4.

Circuit breaker measures suggest that if the number of passengers that test positive for nucleic acid after entry reaches five on the same flight, the airline will be suspended for one week, and if the number reaches 10, the airline will be suspended for four weeks, according to the notice by the CAAC.

The flight volume of the circuit breaker may not be adjusted for other routes and airlines will not resume their weekly flight schedule until the shutdown ends, the notice said.

Meanwhile, the increase in flights from some eligible countries can be moderately increased provided that the risks are under control and the country is capable of receiving guarantees, the notice said.

There are a total of 84,379 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,139 deaths due to the virus in Bangladesh as of 10:40 am Sunday, according to the latest data from the Coronavirus Resource Center at John Hopkins University.