Dozens of events across the nation have been canceled or postponed after the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Tuesday raised the COVID-19 warning level and announced stricter restrictions on public gatherings.
The CECC said that in response to the increased risk of community transmission caused by local cases of unknown sources of infection, it was raising the warning to level 2 until June 8.
It also imposed a series of updated guidelines, saying that in general, organizers should cancel outdoor activities involving more than 500 people and indoor activities involving more than 100 people.
Photo: Ling Mei-hsueh, Taipei Times
The Taiwan Design Research Institute was among the first groups to announce changes to its event schedule following the CECC’s instructions.
The in-person presentation of the 40th Young Designers’ Exhibition, which was scheduled to take place at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center from tomorrow through Monday next week, has been canceled, the institute said.
However, the online edition of the event would still be held as scheduled, the institute said.
All outdoor activities with more than 500 participants and indoor activities with more than 100 attendees organized by the Ministry of Culture and its affiliated institutions and venues would be postponed or canceled through June 8, the ministry said.
That included a ceremony for the 40th National Cultural Awards that had been scheduled to take place today at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), the ministry said, adding that the ceremony would be delayed.
The Taiwan Traditional Theatre Festival’s programs from tomorrow through May 30 would be canceled, the ministry said.
The Taipei Fine Arts Museum is to manage crowd numbers and cancel guided tours through June 8, the museum said.
The museum advised people to avoid visiting the museum from 1:30pm to 4:30pm daily, which it said were its peak visiting hours.
The new measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are also having an effect on political activity.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had planned to start the first in a series of more than 300 policy briefings in Taipei on Sunday, but the event has been postponed to give priority to the prevention of COVID-19, DPP spokeswoman Yen Juo-fang (顏若芳) said.
All scheduled briefings before June 8 would also be suspended, she said.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would suspend its scheduled referendum campaign events, KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said yesterday.
Cooperating with the CECC’s disease prevention efforts “is our common responsibility,” he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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