Beijing, Jan 6 (IANS): The city of Xi'an in China's Shaanxi province currently under a lockdown due to a latest Covid-19 outbreak, has suspended international passenger flights, authorities said on Thursday.

Previously, the city had already suspended domestic flights, according to the Xi'an Xianyang International Airport.

The airport is an important air transportation hub in western China, with international routes connecting 74 major destinations in 36 countries around the world, reports Xinhua news agency.

On December 9, 2021, the city reported a locally transmitted Covid-19 case, a staffer engaged in disinfection at a quarantined hotel for inbound flights from the airport.

Since then, the city has registered a total of 1,856 cases, the provincial health commission said.

Overall, the provincial caseload surged to 1,883 on Thursday after 63 locally transmitted infections were reported in the last 24 hours.

Previous viral genome sequencing of the locally transmitted cases in the outbreak identified the strains as the highly infectious Delta variant.