Popular tourist spots and transportation hubs nationwide were disinfected yesterday to prevent a spike of COVID-19 cases following the Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said.
Environmental protection departments in cities and counties dispatched special squads, made up of 731 employees, who disinfected 863 locations, including 205 transportation hubs and 250 business areas, the EPA said.
These included popular tourist spots that the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) had cited in its text messages on Saturday, when it reminded the public to avoid crowded places and keep a proper social distance, including Kenting (墾丁) and Hengchun Old Street (恆春老街) in Pingtung County, Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien County and Guanzihling (關子嶺) in Tainan, it said.
Photo copied by Chen Hsien-yi, Taipei Times
The EPA reminded business owners that they should be following its disinfection guidelines and clean their indoor areas at least once per day, or more if their businesses get a lot of foot traffic.
The guidelines state that items that are frequently touched, such as service counters, tables and chairs, elevator buttons, escalator handrails, shopping carts, doorknobs, water taps, toilet seats and flush handles, diaper-changing tables and floor surfaces, should get special attention.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, yesterday reminded the public to practice good personal hygiene and self-health monitoring following the long weekend.
The center said that it would be reviewing the crowds seen at some tourist spots over the holiday weekend to see if further crowd control measures should be imposed during the Workers’ Day long weekend from May 1 to May 3.
These could include designating more car-free zones to help widen the social distance space for pedestrians and limiting the number of guests that hotels could accept, it said.
Crowded areas were also on the mind of New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday.
At a meeting about New Taipei City’s COVID-19 prevention measures, Hou said seeing scenic areas packed with holidaymakers had saddened him, as “all the hard work during the disease prevention period would mean nothing as long as there are loopholes.”
Local governments must be fully prepared to roll out more preventive measures, including tourist number controls, crowd diversion, and restrictions on hotel bookings, to perhaps 70 or 80 percent of their original thresholds.
Effective today, anyone not wearing mask would be barred from entering New Taipei City government buildings, including officials, Hou said.
Additional reporting by Chien Hui-ju and Lee I-chia
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
RSS