Tue, Feb 18, 2020 page1

• Virus Outbreak: Taiwanese face entry limits in five countries

  • By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
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  While the Philippines has lifted its travel ban against Taiwanese visitors, five other countries continue to bar Taiwanese or ask them to provide medical clearance after arrival, amid the COVID-19 outbreak, International Air Transportation Association (IATA) data showed yesterday.

  While Italy has banned flights by Taiwan-based airlines, it was not included in the IATA announcement, as the association looked at only passport and visa requirements.

  Mauritius, Bangladesh and Mongolia, along with two of the nation’s former diplomatic allies, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, have imposed a variety of bans or time restrictions on travelers.

  

  Travelers line up to fill in health declaration cards and home quarantine electronic registration forms at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday.

  Photo:Tony Yao, Taipei Times

  As of Feb. 6, Mauritius has barred entry to passengers who reside or have been in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong or Macau in the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival.

  As of Monday last week, Mongolia is not allowing travelers who live in or have been to those four places since Jan. 1 to enter the country or to transit, although the policy does not apply to people who reside in Mongolia.

  Solomon Islands does not allow passengers who have visited China or transited through it in the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival to enter the country.

  While it allows entry of passengers transiting through Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea or Vanuatu, it requires these passengers to present evidence that they have not been in or transited through Taiwan in the previous 14 days, along with 20 other nations where there have been confirmed cases of COVID-19.

  Vanuatu on Monday last week announced that people who have been to Taiwan, China, Hong Kong or Macau in the 14 days prior to their arrival are not allowed to enter the country.

  It is also requiring travelers who have been in any of the four since Dec. 31 last year, but who have spent the previous 14 days outside of them, to supply a copy of Medical Clearance Form 1, issued by a registered medical practitioner certifying that they are free from any respiratory illness.

  Bangladesh is no longer issuing visas on arrival to Chinese nationals, as well as passengers with a Republic of China, Hong Kong or Macau passport, and passengers arriving from any of the four must fill in a health clearance form provided by their airline cabin crew.

  Samoa requires passengers who have transited through or have been in Taiwan, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates or California to obtain a medical clearance issued by a registered medical practitioner three days before their arrival.

  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that Taiwanese headed for Vietnam should bring a copy of an entry-and-exit permit from the National Immigration Agency that lists their travel history in the previous 14 days to prove that they have not visited China recently.

  If they are to visit other nations before arriving in Vietnam, they should make sure that the immigration officials in those countries have clearly stamped their passports, the ministry said.
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