China bars US-Bangla flights from Bangladesh for a week over COVID-19

The Civil Aviation Administration of China has barred US-Bangla Airlines flights from Bangladesh for a week after finding five coronavirus patients on a flight to Guangzhou from Dhaka.

China conducted tests on the passengers of the flight after quarantining them on Jun 27.

Kamrul Islam, a spokesman for US-Bangla, said it received the order from CAAC on Friday banning flights from Jul 6 to Jul 12.

The private airline had only one flight scheduled for this period as it operates one flight a week to Guangzhou.

The flight has been deferred from Jul 11 to Jul 18.

On Friday, Italy banned entry from Bangladesh until Oct 5 after finding a number of COVID-19 patients who reportedly travelled with fake test reports on a flight.

Currently, Bangladesh has air connectivity with only Britain and China, among 17 of its international destinations. Transit passengers from Bangladesh can also travel to Qatar.