Amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Beijing, hundreds of flights to and from the city have or are likely to be cancelled on Wednesday after the country raised its emergency response to contain the spread of the contagion.
Under the newly initiated measures, residents who want to leave Beijing are required to show they have had a negative nucleic acid test within seven days of departure, Global Times reported.
Among 786 scheduled flights from and to Beijing Capital International Airport, 313 have been cancelled, accounting for 40 per cent of the total flights.
The development came after China reported 44 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, including 31 cases in Beijing, amid re-imposed restrictions in the capital after a new COVID-19 cluster at the major food market was discovered.
The country's National Health Commission said on Wednesday that the new cluster of COVID-19 cases was detected in Beijing last week after more than 40 people linked to the Xinfadi food market tested positive for the coronavirus.
Beijing authorities have said that the Chinese capital was in "wartime emergency mode" and have raised the city's emergency response level from three to two, thus re-imposing strict containment measures in local residential communities.
The country's total number of confirmed coronavirus cases now stands at 83,265, and the death toll is 4,634. The total number of recovered individuals in China reached 78,379.
( With inputs from ANI )