The Ministry of Health and Welfare should integrate various systems that have been used to monitor foot traffic at tourist attractions to ensure that locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 do not increase after a nationwide COVID-19 alert was downgraded to level 2 on Tuesday, tourism experts said yesterday.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Andy Chiu (邱臣遠) said at a news conference that the ministry spent NT$15 million (US$535,619) last year leasing a system from Chunghwa Telecom to monitor foot traffic at tourist destinations, adding that travelers could access the system via the “Freeway 1968” app, which was previously only used to monitor freeway traffic.
While such a function should have been available from April last year to April this year, it was removed from the app in June last year and not used for 10 months, he said.
Government officials in Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, New Taipei City and Yunlin County have developed their own apps to monitor the numbers at tourist attractions, but both the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications have been unwilling to consolidate the different apps into one platform.
Travel Quality Assurance Association chairman Ringo Lee (李奇嶽) said that as tourist attractions are regulated by different government agencies, the Central Epidemic Command Center should lead interagency efforts to consolidate the nation’s monitoring systems.
“We will see a rise in locally transmitted cases again if we fail to effectively regulate the number of people entering tourist attractions,” Lee said.
Chen Tai-an (陳泰安), an associate professor in the department of sustainable tourism at TransWorld University, said the government should use technology to monitor foot traffic and prevent further outbreaks.
Staff at Kaohsiung’s Hsingda Harbor and Chiayi County’s Budai Fish Mart still calculate foot traffic using people counters, which is an outdated system, Chen said.
“Since the government has already built such a system, it should work to improve it and make it better,” he said.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said. From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths
Restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would take up to 18 months, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Kuo was answering questions during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, where legislators are considering amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條) amid concerns about the consequences of the Pingtung County reactor’s decommissioning scheduled for May 17. Its decommissioning is to mark the end of Taiwan’s nuclear power production. However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of existing
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday demanded that Somalia reverse its decision prohibiting Taiwanese passport holders from entering or transiting through the country. Somalia said it is following the “one China” principle based on UN Resolution 2758. The ministry said that Somalia is misinterpreting the resolution under China’s instigation, creating a false impression that Taiwan is subordinate to China. The Somali Civil Aviation Authority told airlines on Tuesday last week that starting today, any passengers with passports or travel documents issued from Taiwan or its affiliated institutions would not be allowed to enter or transit through Somalia. The decision comes as Taiwan is boosting
RSS