Taipei closes entertainment venues

[reader]

From Channel News Asia

TAIPEI: Taiwan's capital on Friday (May 14) announced an indefinite closure of entertainment venues in the wake of a widening outbreak of local COVID-19 infections.

The self-ruled island has been hailed as a global leader in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, with just 1,290 confirmed cases, 12 deaths and minimal social distancing needed once the initial outbreak was quelled.

But an outbreak first detected among pilots has spread into the community and forced the reimposition of restrictions in a place that has so far weathered the pandemic unscathed.

The Taipei city government's decision, effective from Saturday, covers bars, dance clubs, karaoke lounges, nightclubs, saunas and Internet cafes as well as hostess clubs and teahouses.

Municipal facilities including libraries and sports centres will also be closed.

Last year Taiwan recorded 253 straight days without any local infections.

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[Lonnie]

6 hours ago, reader said:

253 straight days without any local infections

What a shame this happened to cloud such a wonderful achievement. Republic of China forever!

[PeterRS]

9 hours ago, Lonnie said:

What a shame this happened to cloud such a wonderful achievement.

Agree entirely. Sadly, as in Thailand, the authorities clearly became too complacent. Having closed its borders for more than a year and put into effect measures for testing and quaranteeing Taiwanese returnees, it failed to do so for air crews, the very people most likely to bring the virus into the country from overseas. The three day quarantine period for pilots was obviously way too short and the supervision of those days far too lax. Very sad! I was hoping travel might be possible to enable overseas visitiors to attend the annual Gay Pride Parade at the end of October, but that must surely be out of the question now - partly as a result of the new outbreak and partly the desperately slow rate of the vaccine rollout in too many Asian countries.