China's western Urumqi cancels hundreds of flights after report of new virus case
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Urumqi, the capital of China's far western region of Xinjiang, cancelled hundreds of flights on Friday, after the report of its first coronavirus case in about five months fuelled concerns of a potential new outbreak.
Epidemic control measures led to the cancellation of more than 600 scheduled flights at Urumqi Diwopu International Airport, or more than 80% of the day's total, figures from aviation data firm Variflight showed.
Urumqi also suspended subway services from late Thursday.
The National Health Commission reported 10 new confirmed virus infections for the mainland, one a locally transmitted case in Xinjiang and nine involving international travellers from abroad.
On Thursday, health authorities in Urumqi said a 24-year-old woman with symptoms such as a sore throat, fever and headaches, tested positive for the virus. Three people with whom she had close contact tested positive but did not show symptoms.
Also on Thursday, the eastern province of Zhejiang reported an asymptomatic case involving a traveller from Xinjiang.
The tally of mainland China's confirmed infections is 83,622 by the end of Thursday, with deaths unchanged at 4,634. Another 104 asymptomatic patients are under observation.
Beijing, which suffered a fresh outbreak last month, reported no new cases for an 11th consecutive day.
(Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.)
(Reporting by Stella Qiu, Lusha Zhang and Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by Samuel Shen and Jing Wang; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
