A group of 148 people departed from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning as Taiwan’s suspended travel bubble with Palau resumed.
A China Airlines flight took off at about 10:30am under a program in which the Pacific island country is offering up to 2,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to arrivals from Taiwan.
The “travel bubble,” which allows Taiwanese to visit Palau under eased protocols, was initially launched on April 1, but was suspended in the middle of May after a surge of COVID-19 cases in Taiwan.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
While Taiwan has contained the outbreak, it still faces a shortage of vaccines.
The first group in the program arrived at the airport at about 4am yesterday and from 5am underwent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for COVID-19.
By 8:30am, the tests had all come back negative, Taoyuan International Airport Corp president Jerry Dan (但昭璧) said.
The airport has streamlined procedures for administering the tests, which allowed them to finish ahead of schedule, Dan said.
In accordance with disease prevention protocols, participants in the travel bubble will be isolated upon their return to Taiwan, he said.
Palauan Ambassador to Taiwan Dilmei Olkerii was at the airport to see the flight off and gave each passenger US$50 of travel vouchers to use in Palau.
Olkerii expressed gratitude to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) for allowing the program to resume.
She cited Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr as saying that while Taiwan has continued to report domestic COVID-19 cases, it has done well to contain the virus.
Earlier this week, Alex Lei, the director of the Palau Visitors Authority’s Taiwan office, said that Palau would provide 2,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwanese travelers in view of the countries’ “long-standing friendly ties.”
Palau — which has doses of the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines — will offer the shots, along with proof of vaccination documents, to Taiwanese on the day of their arrival, Lei said.
People who have already confirmed their travel plans can reserve a jab by contacting the Taiwan office by e-mail, he said.
Many of the first group of tourists on yesterday’s flight were planning to receive their first COVID-19 vaccine shot in Palau, while others who had already received one vaccination in Taiwan were hoping to receive a jab from another brand there.
Travelers returning from Palau have to undergo five days of enhanced self-health management, either at a quarantine hotel or at home, if they can keep one person to a room, the CECC has said.
On the fifth day after their return, they are required to take a PCR test, and with a negative result they will be allowed to follow standard self-health management protocols until the 14th day, it said.
Separately yesterday, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said that the government is drafting a protocol on the recognition of COVID-19 vaccination records from abroad.
Currently, if people who have been vaccinated against the virus abroad are asked for their record, they can use a certificate issued to them in the country where they were vaccinated, because there are no bilateral agreements on recognition of COVID-19 vaccination records yet, Chen said.
However, the planned protocol would only recognize records that show vaccination with a product that has emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), while a certificate declaring that they are to be inoculated abroad would also be required, he said.
COVID-19 vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Moderna, which have been part of Taiwan’s vaccine program since March 22, would be recognized, and the FDA has authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech and the one developed locally by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp, he said.
A fourth public debate was held today about restarting the recently decommissioned Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, ahead of a referendum on the controversial issue to be held in less than two weeks. A referendum on Aug. 23 is to ask voters if they agree that “the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should continue operations upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns.” Anyone over 18 years of age can vote in the referendum. The vote comes just three months after its final reactor shut down, officially making Taiwan nuclear-free. Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) represented
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
RSS