The Ministry of the Interior yesterday announced guidelines for funerals, and visits to temples and national parks, to take effect after a nationwide COVID-19 alert is downgraded to level 2 on Tuesday next week.
People paying their respects to a deceased person should nominate one representative to attend the funeral, the ministry said.
The number of people who can attend a ceremony at a funeral home would be limited according to the venue’s size, it said, adding that venues should inform people of attendance limits.
Outdoor ceremonies should be attended by no more than 100 people, the ministry said.
Columbaria would also be open for visitors once the alert level is lowered, it said, adding that attendance would be limited according to the venue’s size.
Disease control measures, including mask wearing and temperature checks, should be conducted and the premises should be disinfected regularly, it said.
Columbarium operators who cannot effectively limit attendance can continue holding Ghost Festival rites without allowing mourners to attend, the ministry said.
Temples would be open to individual worshipers and religious gatherings, the ministry said.
The maximum number of attendees would be up to 50 for indoor events and 100 for outdoor gatherings, it said.
Firms should observe disease prevention guidelines when conducting pudu (普渡, “universal salvation”) ceremonies for their employees, the ministry said, referring to a traditional ceremony to honor deceased ancestors on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, also known as Ghost Month.
Large religious events, such as processions, pilgrimages and feasts, are still prohibited, the ministry said.
Cabins in ecological preserves and national parks would remain closed, while camping grounds and other outdoor facilities would reopen, it said.
Visitor flow would be regulated and COVID-19 prevention measures remain in place, it said, adding that parking lots would operate at 50 percent capacity.
Depending on the development of the COVID-19 situation and the behavior of national park visitors, the ministry might implement rolling measures should the need arise, it said.
The limit of indoor gatherings at 50 people would also allow for the resumption of in-person meetings of political parties, and civic and community groups, as well as corporate board meetings, it said.
However, gatherings of between 51 and 100 people would have to be held outdoors, it said, adding that organizers of larger meetings would have to divide the gathering into sub-groups or use teleconferencing.
Meetings that do not allow for appropriate disease prevention measures would have to be postponed, the ministry added.
China’s Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong has asked foreign consulates in Hong Kong to submit details of their local staff, which is more proof that the “one country, two systems” model no longer exists, a Taiwanese academic said. The office sent letters dated Monday last week to consulates in the territory, giving them one month to submit the information it requires. The move followed Beijing’s attempt to obtain floor plans for all properties used by foreign missions in Hong Kong last year, which raised concerns among diplomats that the information could be used for
‘ABNORMITY’: News of the military exercises on the coast of the Chinese province facing Taiwan were made public by the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday Taiwan’s military yesterday said it has detected the Chinese military initiating a round of exercises at a bay area in coastal Fujian Province, which faces Taiwan, since early yesterday morning and it has been closely monitoring the drills. The exercises being conducted at Fujian’s Dacheng Bay featured an undisclosed number of People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) warplanes, warships and ground troops, the Ministry of National Defense said in a press statement. The ministry did not disclose what kind of military exercises are being conducted there and for how long they would be happening, but it did say that it has been closely watching
Vice President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that Beijing was trying to “annex” Taiwan, while China said its recent series of drills near Taiwan are aimed at combating the “arrogance” of separatist forces. The Ministry of National Defense earlier this month said that it had observed dozens of Chinese fighters, drones, bombers and other aircraft, as well as warships and the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, operating nearby. The increased frequency of China’s military activities has raised the risk of events “getting out of hand” and sparking an accidental clash, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said last week. Asked about the spurt
Noting that researchers have found that 85 China-based blogs and accounts were spreading a conspiracy theory that a US “meteorological weapon” had caused recent fires in Hawaii, political observers in Taiwan said the nation also needs to be vigilant of Beijing employing similar disinformation campaigns against Taiwan. The untrue content concerning Hawaii was written in 15 languages and disseminated across a myriad of platforms including Facebook, YouTube and X, a report published in Gizmodo said, citing NewsGuard, an online news content ranker. The effort represented the most expansive Chinese informational operation to be uncovered by NewsGuard to date, Gizmodo said. The conspiracy theory
RSS