BEIJING: China is poised to resume direct international flights to Beijing from several countries with low rates of the deadly coronavirus, aviation authorities said Wednesday, after a freeze of more than five months. The new rules will apply from Thursday to flights from Thailand, Cambodia, Pakistan, Greece, Denmark, Austria, Sweden and Canada, all with low numbers of imported cases of the virus which has hammered global travel.

But travellers would be subject to centralised quarantine on arrival for 14 days and have to take two Covid-19 tests, a Beijing city official told reporters.

"Starting September 3, international passenger flights to Beijing, which previously had their entry points diverted, will gradually resume," said the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in a statement, without specifying if passengers would have to be nationals of the eight countries.