Taiwanese travelers returning from Palau would have to quarantine in government facilities for five days upon arrival before observing self-health management for another 16 days, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, after the Pacific country reported a surge in imported COVID-19 cases.
Taiwan and Palau early last year signed an agreement to enable quarantine-free travel, after Taiwan had effectively curbed its first domestic outbreak of the virus and Palau had not yet posted any cases.
However, the licensed tours required Taiwanese to present a negative COVID-19 test report before boarding their flight, and contact with locals was limited.
Photo: Chuang Shih-hsien, Taipei Times
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, confirmed that Palau had as of yesterday reported 189 COVID-19 cases, including 157 in the past seven days.
“We were told that 139 of these cases were identified as soon as they arrived at the airport, and Palau only had nine local cases. It seemed relatively stable,” Chen said. “But the problem is that we do not know what they did to manage 139 cases after they were identified at the airport.”
The latest flight from Palau arrived in Taiwan on Jan. 5, when the ally had not yet reported any COVID-19 cases, Chen said, adding that no Palauan arrivals to Taiwan have been found to have the disease.
The CECC yesterday evening tightened travel restrictions for tourists returning from Palau.
Currently, returnees must undergo a stricter version of self-health management for five days and another nine days of observing regular self-health management.
They must undergo COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on the fifth, 12th, 13th and 14th days after arrival.
Starting tomorrow, tourists must quarantine for five days in a government facility and practice a stricter version of self-health management for another nine days, as well as regular self-health management for another seven.
PCR tests would be required on the fifth, 13th and 14th days, as well as rapid tests on the eighth, 11th, 20th and 21st days.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has adjusted the travel alert for Palau to “gray,” meaning that people should be cautious, the center said, adding that the ministry and the Tourism Bureau would discuss ways to refund those who cancel their trips to Palau.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS