Taiwan to Ban Entry of Foreigners For 1 Month From May 19 Amid New COVID-19 Outbreak

Taipei, May 17: Taiwan plans to prohibit foreigners without local residency from entering the island for a month from Wednesday, as its daily local COVID-19 infections reached a new peak of 333 new cases on Monday.

"Because of the rising COVID-19 epidemic situation both domestically and internationally, to safeguard the domestic epidemiological situation and the health of our citizens, our nation will introduce the following border control restrictions from May 19: entry of foreigners who do not hold valid resident permits will be suspended, with exceptions for emergency and humanitarian cases; the passengers' flight transit through Taiwan will also be suspended," the Taiwan Center for Disease Control (CDC) said in a statement. The restrictions would last until June 18, the statement added. China Cancels 487 Inbound Flights Over COVID-19 Concerns.

During a press conference on Monday, Taiwan Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said the island identified 333 new local COVID-19 cases and two imported cases in the past 24 hours.

As of Monday, Taiwan has reported 2017 COVID-19 cases, including 883 local cases, with 12 fatalities, according to data from the Taiwan CDC.

After being hailed as one of the most successful regions in containing local COVID-19 outbreaks, Taiwan saw a spike of new infections in recent days after daily new cases topped 100 for the first time on Saturday.

(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)