Two charter flights from Wuhan, China, arrived in Taiwan at nearly midnight and early yesterday morning carrying 361 Taiwanese, who were placed in three quarantine centers after being screened for fever and respiratory symptoms, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the two flights, operated by China Airlines and China Eastern Airlines, landed in Taiwan at about 11:40pm on Tuesday and at about 4am yesterday morning respectively after delayed departures.
“There were many negotiations between Taiwan and China, but we found that there are still many differences in perception and approach on how the operation should proceed,” Chen said, but added that “both sides were willing to accomplish the mission and overcame some difficulties to make it happen.”
Photo: CNA
The China Airlines flight carried 169 passengers, 10 medical personnel and 12 crew members from Taiwan, while the China Eastern Airlines aircraft carried 192 passengers and three medical personnel from Taiwan, he said.
A total of 22 buses and 10 ambulances were deployed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to ferry the 361 passengers to the quarantine centers for 14-day quarantine or to hospitals if they exhibited symptoms, he added.
The differences between the two sides included Chinese authorities claiming that the passengers did not need to don protective equipment because they had all tested negative for COVID-19 and screened for a fever before boarding, but the Taiwanese government insisted that they should still wear a mask, goggles and protective clothing, Chen said.
“We want to avoid the chances of regretting that we did not do enough, so we would rather take thorough preventive measures when we can,” Chen said.
Some confirmed cases in Taiwan have shown that a person can go from testing negative to positive, so it is better to be careful, he said.
A few people who were on the passenger list did not report to the airport in Wuhan and a few who refused to be screened for symptoms were not allowed to board the aircraft, including a man who had a mild fever, Chen said, adding that the CECC is concerned whether he would receive proper medical treatment in China.
While the CECC did not know why some passengers refused to be screened or did not show up at the airport, Chen said that some might have had mild symptoms and were afraid that they would be forcibly hospitalized in China, increasing their risk of contracting COVID-19.
Following Taipei’s request that vulnerable people receive priority and that proper disease-prevention measures be taken for the flights, Ministry of Health and Welfare Department of Medical Affairs Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said that about 20 percent of the passengers were minors, while the oldest was 91 years old.
The passengers who might need medical attention were taken to the quarantine center closest to a hospital, Shih said.
Many quarantine officials, medical personnel and other officials stayed up all night to accomplish the mission, said Chen, who oversaw the operations at the airport and visited all three quarantine centers before holding a news conference at the CECC in Taipei in the morning.
“I am not the only one who is exhausted. Everyone is equally tired, but they are willing to do more for Taiwanese,” he said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS