More than 1,000 flights were cancelled on Thursday after 20 employees of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport tested positive to COVID-19.
Airport authorities issued a notice early in the morning announcing that anomalies had been detected as part of routine nucleic acid testing of staff, with 20 samples suspected of being positive.
The employees in question are said to work in various departments of the airport, including five from airport management, one who works in the T2 terminal, one from the equipment department, one from the power department, four from the fire department and one person from head office.
In response, flights have been cancelled and anyone who has visited the airport required to take a COVID-19 test. Guangzhou authorities have also issued a requirement for everyone living in Baiyun, Huadu and Yuexiu to take COVID-19 tests.
Mainland Chinese media outlets reported that the cancelled flights accounted for around 90% of scheduled air traffic in and out of the airport, expected to impact around 1,100 flights.
The cases come on the same day as Guangdong Province reported no new local COVID-19 infections within the previous 24 hours, while 24 imported cases included seven in Guangzhou.
As reported by IAG, Macau only this week eased border restrictions with Guangdong Province by extending the validity period of negative test results for arrivals into Macau from 48 hours to 72 hours.
