Covid: Travel chaos spills into new week

There have been more Covid-related flight cancellations globally as the week starts, capping off a miserable festive period for thousands of people.More than 1,400 flights have been scrapped on Monday, with Chinese and US destinations being the worst hit, the FlightAware data tracking website says.

US airlines say the disruption is due to crews testing positive or isolating.

Hong Kong is banning all South Korea’s Korean Air flights for two weeks, after positive cases among some arrivals.

In all, more than 8,000 flights have been grounded over the long Christmas weekend that began on Friday.

Although the number of cancellations is a small percentage of the total, it is higher than normal and comes at a time of year when many are travelling to spend time with family and friends.

In a separate development, US authorities are monitoring dozens of cruise ships hit by Covid cases while sailing in the country’s waters, with several of them reportedly denied port in the Caribbean, AFP news agency reports.

Recorded Covid cases are rising sharply around the world, largely driven by the Omicron variant.

BBC