Chinese embassy says stopover was only for refuelling ‘No passenger boarded or disembarked flight in Colombo’

23 passengers tested positive for COVID-19 according to PCR testing conducted upon landing in shanghai

By Kelum Bandara

The SriLankan Airlines flight in which with 23 passengers tested positive for COVID- 19 only landed in Colombo for technical purposes en route to Shanghai from Dubai on August 7, and no passenger boarded the aircraft or disembarked it here, a Chinese embassy spokesman said.   

The spokesman said flight UL 866 had a stopover in Colombo only for refuelling, and none of the passengers disembarked. He also said no passenger boarded the aircraft from Colombo.   
He said 23 passengers tested positive for COVID-19 according to PCR testings conducted upon landing in Shanghai.   

Meanwhile, Xinhua which is the official news agency of China Colombo reported yesterday that China’s civil aviation regulator had announced that SriLankan Airlines’ Colombo-Shanghai flight and two other airlines would be suspended after several passengers tested positive for COVID-19 on recent flights.   

• 23 passengers tested positive for COVID-19 according to PCR testings conducted upon landing in Shanghai.