Mongolia bars entry of Taiwanese football team to combat virus

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/02/2020
By: Long Po-an and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Feb. 2 (CNA) A Taiwanese football team that was set to visit Mongolia to play in an AFC Cup match has been barred from entering Ulaanbaatar as part of that country's new restrictions to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

Chen Kuei-jen (陳貴人), manager of the Taipower Football Team, said the team was originally scheduled to board a flight to the Mongolian capital Sunday morning.

They were stopped at the airline counter, however, and told that the Mongolian government has barred Taiwanese citizens from entering the country to prevent the spread of the epidemic, which is centered in China but seen as a global public health emergency.

Fan Ching-ren (方靖仁), the secretary-general of the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA), told CNA that the Mongolian side said the decision was part of Mongolia's epidemic response policy barring visitors from the "Chinese area," which includes China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]