Almost 500 flights were canceled at one of China’s busiest airports due to the governmental efforts to control a local coronavirus outbreak in Shanghai. Thousands of employees of Pudong International Airport (PVG), a major aviation hub of East Asia, were tested by health officials after several Covid-19 cases in the city were linked to cargo handlers of the PVG airport.

On November 24, 2020, over 500 flights, nearly a half of the day’s scheduled flights out of PVG airport, and almost a half of scheduled inbound flights to the airport, were canceled while the government kept battling several domestic outbreaks in different regions of the country. In addition, almost all scheduled operations from and into Tianjin Binhai International Airport (TSN) were also called-off, reported local media.

Reportedly, more than 17,000 employees of the PVG airport cargo department were tested for the COVID-19 infection in the airport parking garage. Over 11,500 test results were negative with the remaining cases still waiting for the results.

During November 2020, seven local infection cases were linked to PVG airport with a major part of cases found in the past days of the month. Meanwhile, Tianjin city has already tested more than 2.6 million people intending to manage local outbreaks, according to local media.

The recent outbreak broke the government’s plans to graft high-risk aviation professionals with an experimental COVID-19 vaccine that was already provided for state employees as well as essential employees heading abroad and international students since July 2020.

The government of China reportedly changed its focus on frozen food and other imported goods that have been blamed for the revival of recent local infection cases.