New Taipei Disinfects Area Visited by Cruise Passengers|鑽石公主號旅客可能走訪地 新北加強消毒

The Diamond Princess cruise ship is currently docked off the coast of Yokohama, Japan. So far 20 passengers have found to be infected with coronavirus. Since the ship docked in the port of Keelung on Jan. 31 and some of its passengers have visited the famous tourist spots in the north, New Taipei City authorities began the disinfecting measures in Jiufen on Feb. 5. However, Taipei City government has not take on any measures yet.


The Diamond Princess cruise ship, run by Carnival Japan Inc, had around 2,000 guests and more than 1,000  crew on board. So far, 20 people have been found to be infected. Since the Diamond Princess docked in the Port of Keelung on Jan.31, therefore, New Taipei City government commissioned its Department of Environmental Protection and disinfected the Jiufen Old Street. The passengers were also known to have visited the Taipei 101 and the National Palace Museum in Taipei. However, the Taipei City government has not implemented any disinfecting measures.

We (at the City government) hold meetings every day at 10 a.m. to discuss disease prevention measures. Our experts will respond to any questions regarding measures that prevent the spreading of virus. Frankly, I don't know much about the details. But we need to know the details first, we need to find out if the passengers indeed went to those touristy spots. Don't base any decision on speculations.

At a meeting with local labor and industry representatives, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je responded to question on disease prevention by saying no decision should be made based on speculations. He was asked about whether the new policy that only allows each person to purchase two surgical masks per week is enough. Ko responded that people don't need to wear masks every day. He also acknowledged the disease prevention effort by the central government.

I think the masks will all be sold out within an hour. Only those who need masks should go out and buy them, and people don't need to wear masks every single day, especially not in open areas. Judging from how frequently the two sides hold different exchanges, the disease prevention effort has been proven effective so far since there are so few cases of infection.

The second wave of charter flight to bring back businesspersons from Wuhan was originally scheduled to return to Taiwan on Feb. 5. However, the flight was canceled due a lack of propriety placement for women, seniors and children. Ko said that more mutual trust and communication will help with cross-strait disease prevention effort.



武漢肺炎疫情嚴峻，1月31日曾停泊基隆港，載近2千名遊客的「鑽石公主號」郵輪，6日最新確診人數來到20人。新北市5日大動作請環保局到九份老街全面消毒，不過旅客也曾到訪台北故宮、忠烈祠、101大樓等地，台北市卻還沒有動作。

台北市長 柯文哲表示：「十點固定會開防疫會議，所以防疫有關問題他會跟你回答，說實在的，細節我是不曉得，做什麼事情先確認啦！應把(旅客)確實去過的地方列出來，也不要就捕風捉影啦！也不需要。」

台北市長柯文哲6日出席工商座談，認為防疫相關問題，不能捕風捉影，至於口罩實名制6號正式上路，不少民眾早上就到特約藥局購買，但一個人七天內限購兩片，是否夠用？柯文哲認為口罩不一定每天都需要，但也肯定中央在防疫工作的表現。

台北市長 柯文哲表示：「大概，我想不用一個鐘頭，大概就賣光了啦！需要的人才買，其實也不見得每天要用，其實在空曠地區是不用戴，台灣跟大陸那個往來密切程度這樣，我們到現在為止還防守得住，這表示表現還不錯。」

至於原本預計5日返台的第二批台商，因登機名單不符合我方提出須先以老弱婦孺等優先原則，臨時喊卡，柯文哲強調兩岸還是要有溝通和互信基礎，才能讓防疫工作更加順利。