Health

Taiwan removes quarantine on arrival with weekly 150,000 limit

Beijing, Oct 13 (EFE).- Taiwan reopened its borders Thursday, closed since 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and will allow the entry of visitors without imposing mandatory quarantine.

The arrival of people from abroad will be limited to 150,000 per week at the moment and travelers will have to monitor their health status during the first week, official Taiwanese agency CNA reported.

Taoyuan International Airport, the main gateway to the island, said it is ready to begin receiving foreign passengers, while many Taiwanese residing in China – where the borders remain shut with few exceptions – complained of difficulties finding plane tickets to the island due to the few flights that operate at the moment.

For this first opening day, the aerodrome foresees a total of 270 flights, which will bring more than 12,300 travelers to the island – to which some 5,600 will be added on a stopover – and will take 6,300 to other destinations.

Among the protocols eliminated as of Thursday at the main Taiwanese airport are the control of health certificates to enter the island and the prohibition of access shops and restaurants in force until now for people arriving from other countries.

Restrictions on transportation to or from the aerodrome are also no longer in force.

Airport sources quoted by CNA said companies operating in Taoyuan have regained 50 percent to 60 percent of their business volume with the phasing out of entry restrictions.

Before the start of the health crisis, the Taiwanese airport registered a record 48.6 million passengers in 2019, a figure that plummeted to 7.4 million the following year and bottomed out in 2021 with 900,000, according to statistics from the island’s Civil Aeronautics Administration.

Meanwhile, in the first eight months of this year, Taoyuan received or dismissed 1.57 million travelers. EFE

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