China orders suspension of some US flights after COVID-19 cases

China has ordered the cancellation of more than two dozen scheduled flights from the United States in recent weeks after numerous passengers tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in China. China's aviation regulator has mandated the cancellations of eight total scheduled U.S. passenger airline flights for Shanghai under its COVID-19 pandemic rules: four by United Airlines and two each from Delta and American Airlines. Delta said it canceled Detroit to Shanghai flights last Friday and Jan. 14 due to the Chinese rule requiring "all affected carriers", whose passengers test positive for COVID-19, "to cancel inbound service on certain China flights." The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has also canceled at least 22 other US bound flights operated by Chinese carriers since December after positive COVID-19 tests, including eight by China Southern Airlines. The United States is facing a surge in infections caused by the highly contagious Omicron variant and on Monday had 132,646 people hospitalized with COVID, surpassing the record of 132,051 set in January 2021. The seven-day average for new cases has doubled in the last 10 days to 704,000. United said it had been forced to cancel flights from San Francisco to Shanghai scheduled for Jan. 15, 19, 22 and 26. The Chicago-based carrier flies from San Francisco to Shanghai four times weekly.<br/>