BEIJING: All the passengers of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) arrived in Xian, China from Islamabad on Saturday were tested negative, making it the third consecutive flight of the national flag carrier which did not bring any case of Covid-19.

"So far, three PIA flights have arrived in Xian from Islamabad during last three weeks and all the passengers coming on these flights from Pakistan were tested negative after their arrival," Qadir Bux Sangi, PIA Country Manager for China said on Saturday.

Under the directives of its CEO Arshad Malik, the PIA decided to implement strict coronavirus precautionary measures amid rising cases of the virus in the country. It was the result of these measures that no Covid-19 case was detected on PIA's Islamabad-Xian flights for three consecutive weeks, he said.

He informed due to zero tolerance and strict implementation of preventive measures, PIA has to off-load several passengers and bear big financial loss. Sangi said that PIA flights leaves from Islamabad to Xian, China on every Friday night and arrives in Xian on Saturday morning. On return, it departs from Beijing to Islamabad on every Sunday morning.

It may be mentioned here that China has adopted tighter epidemic preventive rules, including negative nucleic acid test results. To ensure the health and safety of international travellers and reduce the risk of cross-border coronavirus transmission, all nucleic acid tests must be taken three days prior to departure.