Virus Outbreak: Temporary ban on HK, Macau residents

CECC: Exceptions will be made for certain categories of people, the health minister said. A second person who had the virus could be released from hospital this week

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 11, 2020
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Starting today, visitors and students from Hong Kong and Macau are banned from entering

Taiwan, with a few exceptions, as part of the government’s temporary measures aimed at preventing the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

The outbreak in China’s Guangdong Province is still serious, with more than 1,000 confirmed cases, and “there is very frequent and high cross-border mobility between Guangdong and Hong Kong or Macau,” Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said at the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) in Taipei.

“Although we have already announced that passengers from or those who have transited in Hong Kong or Macau must be put under home quarantine for 14 days, we want to enhance disease prevention at the border,” he said.

Exceptions would be made for people with business contracts to fulfill, multinational corporation employees who are being transferred, and the spouses or children under the age of 18 of Taiwanese who have already obtained an Alien Resident Certificate, he said.
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