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There have been more Covid-related flight cancellations globally as the week starts, capping off a miserable festive period for thousands of people, BBC News reports.

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.

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

Despite early findings that Omicron is milder than other coronavirus variants, scientists are concerned by the sheer number of infections being recorded.

The majority of the flights cancelled on Monday are those by Chinese companies, according to FlightAware. They include China Eastern, which cancelled 368 flights, and Air China, with 141 cancellations.

Meanwhile, the worst hit US companies are United, with 84 cancellations, and JetBlue which had 66.