South Korean pop star CL, leader of the girl group 2NE1, was invited to be a guest performer at the S2O Taiwan Songkran Music Festival, but would not be able to attend as the event organizer failed to meet disease prevention requirements.
The organizer blamed the Ministry of Culture for not approving its disease prevention plan for the event, which is to take place this weekend.
The organizer yesterday said on Facebook that the event is to be held as scheduled, adding that some artists are unable to fly to Taiwan because “government agencies kept passing the buck over our free-of-quarantine project without giving us a direct response.”
Photo: screen grab from Spunite’s Facebook page
The ministry issued a statement yesterday in response, saying that it had reminded the organizer several times and provided examples of such a plan, but the organizer did not submit a plan until Wednesday night.
It rejected the plan as the disease prevention measures were flawed for an event that involves 68 foreign artists and staff, the ministry said.
All international travelers arriving in Taiwan are required to practice three days of home quarantine, followed by four days of self-disease prevention.
The Central Epidemic Command Center told a news conference on Thursday last week that under special circumstances, organizers can submit a disease prevention plan to the center to apply for quarantine exemption.
The organizers did not examine the event venue in advance or inform border control agencies of the plan for customs clearance and traveler quarantine, the ministry said.
The submitted plan did not include the list of staff, contact tracing method or disinfection plan for the event venue or the hotels where artists and staff will stay, it added.
The ministry said that it would support and assist special project applications, but reminded event organizers to adhere to current disease prevention measures.
A NT$39 receipt for two bottles of tea at a FamilyMart was among the NT$10 million (US $312,969) special prize winners in the January-February uniform invoice lottery. FamilyMart said that two NT$10 million-winning receipts were issued at its stores, as well as two NT$2 million grand prizes and three NT$200,000 first prizes. The two NT$10 million receipts were issued at stores in Pingtung County and Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山). One winner spent just NT$39 on two bottles of tea, while another spent NT$80 on water, tea and coffee, the company said. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven reported three NT$10 million winners — in New Taipei
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
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