TAIPEI (TAIWAN) – After a rare outbreak of domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases connected to a hospital, Taiwan has cancelled or postponed more large-scale events.
On Tuesday the government called off main celebrations for the Taiwan Lantern Festival, after which more cities have followed suit, including Kaohsiung and Taipei.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je told reporters on Wednesday that the city was postponing the city’s lantern festival events and cancelling the customary Lunar New Year street market in the fashionable Dihua Street area.
The presidential office said late Tuesday that it would not host its Lunar New Year Reception, and that it would coordinate with the health authorities about whether President Tsai Ing-wen might visit temples during the holiday, as she would normally.
Taiwan was efficient in keeping the virus well under control. Until December, the island had not reported any local transmissions since April; but the recent reports of new domestic transmissions rattled them.
The government has quarantined and tested hundreds of people connected to the outbreak at the hospital in Taoyuan, traced to a doctor infected while treating a COVID-19 patient.
