June 17, 2020 - 16:38 AMT
Beijing cancels nearly 70% of commercial flights amid new outbreak

Beijing has canceled 1,255 inbound and outbound flights from two major airports in the city, following an increase in coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, CNN reports citing the state-run China Daily newspaper.

The report said nearly 70% of the flights from Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport have been canceled.

On Tuesday, June 16, Beijing raised its alert level from Level 3 to Level 2 -- the highest alert being Level 1.

Authorities imposed a soft lockdown on the entire city after the Chinese capital reported more than 100 new locally transmitted coronavirus cases in the past five days.

The city reported 31 new confirmed coronavirus cases today, according to Beijing authorities.

This bring the total cases in the past five days since the start of the cluster to 137.