China bans more international flights from U.S.

Jan. 14 (UPI) -- China has banned flights from the United States and other countries as it struggles to contain COVID-19 cases ahead of the Lunar New Year and the Winter Olympics.

The government of the People's Republic of China issued a statement on Friday updating travel guidelines. Chinese aviation authorities are banning flights coming in from France, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The world's second-largest economy saw 10,000 inbound flights around this time in 2019, but now is operating with fewer than 500 flights scheduled this week.

Flights from Dallas, Detriot, Seattle, San Francisco, and New York to Shanghai have been banned. Other flights going into Beijing, Shenzhen, Xiamen and Guangzhou were also banned.

"We don't expect international travel to and from China to recover to 2019 levels for the next three quarters at least," analyst John Grant told Bloomberg.