Health officials have already made preparations for a China Airlines (中華航空) flight that is bringing 120 passengers to Taiwan from the UK today, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.
The number of flights from the UK has been halved and extra quarantine measures were put in place since Wednesday, in response to a new strand of SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — that has been spreading in the UK, the Central Epidemic Command Center said yesterday.
Today’s flight from London, which is to arrive at 6:15pm, is the first from the UK to arrive since the new measures were put in place, the center said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Flight personnel would be required to quarantine at home for 14 days, and all passengers would be required to undergo testing, and be quarantined at a centralized facility for 14 days, Chen said, adding that they would be required to report any health abnormalities to officials after being released from quarantine.
Anyone who has recently traveled to the UK would be subject to the same regulations, he added. Over the past few days, 26 people who have recently been to the UK were placed in a quarantine facility, he said.
Chen said that the center had initially planned to test only those showing symptoms, but revised its plans in light of the number of positive cases that showed no symptoms, as well as the relative lack of information about the new strain of the virus.
Asked how the center would handle the approximately 4,000 students expected to return from the UK for the Lunar New Year holiday, Chen said that they would be subject to the same measures.
“What we know about the new virus strain is that while it is more transmissible, infections caused by it are not more serious,” he said, adding that centralized quarantine is required for passengers from the UK to prevent transmission to people who live in the same home as them.
“If someone got infected at home and then the virus spreads into the community, I’m afraid that may cause a community outbreak,” he said.
Asked by reporters whether there are sufficient centralized facilities to accommodate an influx of people returning home for the Lunar New Year, Chen said there are 3,200 beds at 29 facilities, and that six more facilities would begin operations next month.
Meanwhile, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (桃園國際機場) said that passengers arriving on flights from the UK would be directed to an unused terminal lounge after leaving their aircraft, and prevented from entering the arrivals hall.
Six designated shuttle busses would take them from the airport to the quarantine facility, it said.
Additional reporting by CNA
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from
RESOLVE: The increased expenditure, if approved by the legislature, would likely see Taipei buying more defense articles from Washington, reducing its trade surplus The government aims to increase defense spending to at least 3 percent of GDP this year, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, hours after US President Donald Trump again threatened tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors. At a news conference in Taipei following his first high-level national security meeting this year, Lai said the government would propose a special budget this year to increase the nation’s defense spending to more than 3 percent of GDP. “Taiwan must firmly safeguard its national sovereignty, strengthen its resolve for self-defense and bolster its defense capabilities,” he said. The president also vowed to double down on defense reforms and