The Taipei City Government yesterday announced that it would set up restricted areas in front of the center stage for its New Year’s Eve party, adding that it might take further measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, including only allowing a reduced audience.
The city government might stream the celebration on Thursday next week, to allow people to virtually participate, it said.
The city government would enforce the Central Epidemic Command Center’s (CECC) regulations, as announced by the center on Tuesday, and close disease prevention loopholes by setting up further restrictions at the event.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT
It would ask attendees to register with the organizers, the city government said.
The CECC tightened its disease prevention restrictions after a local contact of a pilot from New Zealand, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday last week, also tested positive, making her Taiwan’s first domestic case of the novel coronavirus since April.
The restricted areas would be on Songgao Road, Songshou Road and in front of the Taipei City Council building, the city government said.
Each area would have up to 10 entry points each, depending on the size of the area, Taipei Department of Information and Tourism Commissioner Liu Yi-ting (劉奕霆) told a news conference.
The city government would enforce the wearing of masks, take people’s temperatures and request personal contact data, he added.
Should the central government implement stricter COVID-19 rules, it would hold the event without a live audience, but stream it online, Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said, adding that it might also strictly restrict attendance to residents of the area around Taipei 101.
After New Taipei City on Wednesday announced the cancelation of all outdoor activities for the city’s annual Christmasland event, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) and Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) yesterday said that their respective city governments are not ruling out either streaming New Year’s Eve events online or canceling the events.
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