Taiwan is Now Tightening Restrictions As Well Due to Surge in Unlinked Cases & New Clusters

Is it somewhat reassuring to know that Singapore isn’t the only country which has been suffering in recent days?

Just like us, Taiwan has uncovered more unlinked community cases in the past few days, even though both countries had been performing relatively well in the midst of the pandemic.

RIP Taiwan.

Wait, does that mean no more travel bubble for them and for us? RIP us too, then.

Taiwan is Now Tightening Restrictions As Well Due to Surge in Unlinked Cases & New Clusters

According to Reuters, Taiwan’s authorities have tightened rules on public gatherings on Tuesday (11 May) as a response to the six new unlinked cases reported in the country.

Sounds familiar, huh?

“As there are different local clusters, we are no longer on the verge of community transmission, but in the [first stage] of community transmission,” Taiwanese Health Minister Chen Shih-chung expressed.

The country has reinstated mask-wearing and social distancing, as well as the restriction of all large gatherings with immediate effect till 8 June 2021. Eating and drinking on trains are also banned.

South China Morning Post also reports that businesses will have to monitor customer flows to abide by social distancing rules and hospital patients and long-term care facilities will bar all visitors till restrictions are lifted.

This is the first time Taiwan has tightened curbs in a long while—they have never gone into a full lockdown since the start of the pandemic.

That’s an especially impressive feat when you realise that Taiwan has had only just over 1,200 infections and 12 deaths so far, with zero community cases from April to December last year.

However, whether their success will continue is yet to be seen.

2 New Clusters

Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre (CECC) reported that five of the new cases came from Yilan, one of Taiwan’s counties, where a customer and four employees of an amusement arcade were infected.

The other case is a former president of the Lions Club in New Taipei City. The man, who is in his 60s, began exhibiting symptoms on 7 May and was confirmed to have the virus on 11 May. He had attended a gathering with 20 to 30 other members in a restaurant on 6 May and was potentially infectious, according to the CECC.

There is also one more case linked to the China Airlines cluster there.

None of the infected individuals have a recent history of overseas travel, Chen noted.

Unfortunately, the centre also revealed that the people in these clusters had visited many places before testing positive, which is not unreasonable considering how safe Taiwan seemed. As such, there is a heightened risk for further community transmission.

Ex-Travel Bubble

Clearly, all of our plans for any potential Singapore-Taiwan travel bubble has probably collapsed.

But back in late April, authorities in Singapore had submitted a proposal to Taiwan for the establishment of an air travel bubble. A proposal to mutually recognise vaccination certificates between both countries has also been submitted.

Responding to a query on whether it was a good time to launch a travel bubble especially when New Zealand had suspended its travel bubble with Western Australia multiple times, Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said that, “You can’t say for sure that everything will be smooth sailing.”

Wow, that’s some foreshadowing right there.

Feature Image: Jack Hong / Shutterstock.com