In a statement posted on its official website, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said that the flight between Lisbon and the Chinese city of Xi'an, operated by the airline Beijing Capital Airlines, will be suspended from June 27.

Flights to China are subject to the "circuit breaker" policy: when five or more cases are detected on board, the connection is suspended for two weeks. If there are ten or more cases, the call is suspended for one month.

Under the zero cases strategy of Covid-19, China has practically closed its borders since March 2020. The country authorises only one flight per city and per airline, which has reduced the number of international air connections to the country by 98%, compared to the pre-pandemic period.

The air connection between Portugal and China was resumed on June 12, with the frequency of one flight a week, after being suspended for more than six months.

The authorities in Xi'an, the capital of central China's Shaanxi province, suspended the connection with Lisbon on December 25, at a time when the region was facing an outbreak of Covid-19. The city only resumed international calls this month.

Anyone arriving in China must also comply with a quarantine period of up to three weeks, in facilities designated by the Government.