Airports on Thursday reported about 15,000 inbound travelers and 10,000 outbound travelers as Taiwan reopened its borders with the new “0+7” COVID-19 policy, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday.
The new policy requires inbound travelers to undergo seven days of “self-disease prevention” after arrival.
As international flights resume, the ministry also completed guidelines for the resumption of cruise ship services and submitted it to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), Wang said, adding that hopefully the plan would be approved within a week.
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應), the Democratic Progressive Party’s Keelung mayoral candidate, said that the Port of Keelung is the most important port for cruise ships in Taiwan, welcoming more than 1.09 million passengers annually before the pandemic.
Up to five cruise ships can dock at the port at a time and 90 percent of outbound voyages set sail from the port before the pandemic, greatly benefiting local industries, Tsai said.
The government should approve the guidelines as soon as possible to attract international tourists, he said, adding that it can provide subsidies for the tourism sector for marketing and for entry documents for arriving passengers.
A visa exemption trial program for holders of Brunei, Philippines and Thailand passports should be extended beyond July 31 next year, he said.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said he would ask the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to simplify customs, immigration, quarantine and security procedures, adding that Taiwan “must let the world know that it has already opened its borders.”
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) visited the port to see how the process of resuming cruise services was advancing.
Seventy-nine cruise ships, carrying about 340,000 people between them, plan to dock at the port next year, she said, adding that the government would help cruise ship operators to prosper once more.
To attract more tourists on cruises, Taiwan International Ports Corp updated its software and hardware during the pandemic, and would welcome visitors with high-quality services, she said.
Meanwhile, the CECC reported 80 deaths from COVID-19 yesterday, the most in a single day since the BA.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2 became prevalent in late August.
It also reported 48,205 new COVID-19 infections, down about 5 percent from a week earlier.
Asked whether the Omicron BF.7 subvariant would become the next dominant strain in Taiwan, the CECC said it is too early to tell.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, told a news conference that Omicron BQ and BF.7 were listed as “variants of concern” by the UK earlier this month.
However, the dominant strain differs from region to region, so the government would continue to monitor imported cases and their variants as international travel increases, Lo said.
Symptoms of all infections with Omicron subvariants are usually similar — coughing, fever, a runny nose and sore throat, he said.
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