The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said it would subsidize quarantine hotels and disease-prevention taxi fleets until the end of the year to help them transition to regular operation.
“Before returning to normal operations, operators of quarantine hotels must clean the facilities and make adjustments during the transitional period. A subsidy of NT$5,000 per room will be available to help them transition to regular operations as soon as possible,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said.
Although inbound travelers are now able to return home by their own means, the ministry is to continue subsidizing disease-prevention taxis at airports until the end of this year, Wang said. Passengers will be charged by taxi meters, he said.
Taxis driving travelers to Keelung City, Taipei, New Taipei City and Hsinchu County are to receive subsidies equal to 30 percent of the fare per ride, while those driving to Taoyuan are to be subsidized the same amount as a regular taxi fare, Wang told reporters yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Tourism Bureau said that it plans to announce guidelines for travel agencies in handling inbound and outbound tour groups soon after the Central Epidemic Command Center approves them.
Wang told reporters that the guidelines would require inbound travelers to undertake a rapid test for COVID-19 every two days during their stay, even though the quarantine requirement is to be waived starting on Oct.13.
“Tour guides are responsible for checking if tourists have indeed taken the test. They must also report those who test positive for COVID-19 to local health authorities,” he said.
The guidelines would also require tourists joining overseas tour groups to have received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, Wang said, adding that purchasing medical insurance and travel safety insurance is highly recommended, but not mandatory.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Defense experts have warned that the ‘Shandong,’ China’s second largest aircraft carrier, poses a serious threat to eastern Taiwan’s defenses The drills conducted by the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong in the Western Pacific last week were more aimed at showcasing China’s military capabilities to the US rather than toward Taiwan, a Taiwanese defense expert said yesterday. Lin Yin-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said the drills which involved dozens of warplanes sought to test China’s anti-access and area denial capabilities should the US and its allies attempt to interfere in a cross-strait conflict. Lin said that the latest Chinese drills coincided with a joint maritime exercise conducted by the US, South Korea
Thousands of bottles of Sriracha have been returned or destroyed after the discovery of excessive sulfur dioxide, a bleaching agent, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday. About 12,600 bottles totaling 9,991.8kg of the hot sauce imported from the US by Emporium Corp (河洛企業) were flagged at the border for containing illegal levels of sulfur dioxide, the FDA said in its regular border inspection announcement. Inspectors discovered 0.5g per kilogram of the common bleaching agent and preservative, higher than the 0.03g permitted, it said. As it is the first time within six months the product has been flagged, Sriracha products from
Two people were killed and another nine injured yesterday after being stung by hornets while hiking in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳), with officials warning against wearing perfume or straying from trails during the autumn to avoid the potentially deadly creatures. Seven of the hikers only sustained minor injuries after being stung along the Bafenliao Hiking Trail (八分寮) and made their way down the mountain with a guide, the New Taipei City Fire Department said. Four of them — all male — sustained more serious injuries and were assisted when leaving the mountain, the department said. Two of them, a man surnamed
CHANGES: While NCCU opened the nation’s first co-ed dorm in Mucha, a recent survey showed that Taiwanese are in favor of abolishing gender segregation at high schools National Chengchi University (NCCU) has opened a co-ed dormitory, a first in Taiwan among state-funded Taiwan universities. The 22 duplexes are at the renovated “Huanan New Village,” in Taipei City’s Mucha (木柵) area, near the NCCU campus, a school official said yesterday. Twenty-two out of 37 group applications were selected in a lottery draw to select who would be chosen to live in the units, which can either be shared by up to eight students if the unit has four bedrooms, or up to 10 students if it is a five-bedroom unit, officials said. Completed in 1964 for campus staff housing,
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