Taipei is to reopen public facilities starting on Monday next week under three conditions, and allow indoor and outdoor events with fewer than 250 and 1,000 people respectively, Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday.
The three conditions are practicing social distancing measures or wearing a mask if the proper distance cannot be kept, enforcing a real-name registration system for indoor activities and prohibiting meal sharing, Huang said.
All municipal facilities would resume operations under those principles, with the exception of school campuses, she said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
School campuses at high-school level and below would remain closed to the public to protect student health, but would be opened during the summer vacation, she added.
Before opening, the city is to publicize public facilities undergoing construction work or not ready to reopen.
The city government is also loosening the restrictions on the size of large events, expanding the maximum number of people at indoor events from 100 to 250 and from 500 to 1,000 at outdoor events, Huang said, adding that events expecting to host more people must apply to the city in advance.
For the annual Dragon Boat Festival, set for June 25 and 26, she said that on-land activities and the dragon boat tryouts have been canceled, but the Taipei International Dragon Boat Championship would still be held, with the races streamed online, as the site would not be opened to the public.
Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs Director-General Tsai Tsung-hsiung (蔡宗雄) said that cultural and arts performances have been hit financially by the COVID-19 pandemic, as they sell fewer tickets to adhere with social distancing regulations.
Therefore, the city government is offering significant discounts for cultural and arts performance organizers to rent venues, he said, adding that he hopes the plan would get artists back on stage and attract audiences.
Huang said that the city would offer a 90 percent discount to rent a venue if ticket sales exceed 45 percent of the available seats, an 80 percent discount if sales exceed 40 percent, a 70 percent discount if sales exceed 30 percent and a 60 percent discount if sales are below 30 percent.
“The city government thinks that the cultural and arts industry needs ticket sales rather than relief payments,” she said, adding that the discount plan would help performers and allow people to enjoy the arts safely while practicing disease prevention measures.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai