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In a recent announcement, China cuts international flights to 1 per week. This is being done to halt the spread of COVID-19, and to avoid a second wave of the virus.

All domestic airlines have been told they are only able to do one international flight per week, and only through certain designated airports, with international airlines also being told they will only be allowed to operate one flight per week also.

Airlines are also being told that they will only be allowed to fly at 75% of their legal capacity, so as to aide social distancing, and again reduce the risk of transmission on the few flights still available to the country.

China also announced a raft of measures to effectively ban all foreigners from entering the country, regardless of visa status, as well as transit visas. This means that the few flights still available are mostly running for Chinese nationals and diplomats only.

The rather extreme measures announced by the CAAC (Civil Aviation Authority of China) not only have no fixed end date, but the CAAC has not ruled out banning all international flights to and from the country. A move that would pretty much leave China more cut off from than world than it has been since the days of Marco Polo.

Whilst it is far too early to predict how things will move in the future for those foreigners still in China, it is likely that you will not be able to leave for a month at least, and that things in China, whilst slowly improving are not expected to go back to anything resembling normal any time soon.

If you had left China, and are currently waiting it out in another country, be prepared to hunker down, preserve your money as best as possible, and ride out the storm.

As always, we will try and keep our Pioneers up to date on any changes that are likely to affect anyone.

Stay safe out there!