COVID-19: Rail, bus operators boost disease measures
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
People should not be concerned about taking public transportation during the Lunar New Year holiday, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday, as railway and bus operators have enforced disease prevention measures in accordance with the guidelines stipulated by the Central Epidemic Command Center.
Today, railway and bus operators are to enforce stricter disease prevention measures due to a COVID-19 cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital.
In addition to a ban on eating and drinking on trains, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) has also limited the sale of non-reserved seats on intercity trains to 120 per train.
Foreign visitor numbers may fall below 1m this year
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
The number of international visitors is expected to fall below 1 million this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage around the world, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
Foreign travelers to Taiwan dropped from 11.84 million in 2019 to 1.377 million last year, bureau Director-General Chang Hsi-chung (張錫聰) told a media briefing in Taipei, adding that 1.3 million arrived during the first quarter, when the government had not yet banned foreign nationals from entering the country for tourism purposes.
With the travel ban still in the place, Chang said that the bureau was not optimistic about the projected number of foreign visitors this year.