Taiwan announces travel bubble with Palau

Taiwan on Wednesday announced a travel bubble with Coronavirus (COVID-19)-free Palau, whose President Surangel Whipps Jr. will be on the first charter flight visiting Taiwan by ending of the month.

A travel bubble is a situation where a set of countries agree to open their borders to each other but keep borders to all other countries closed.

Chen Shih-Chung, the Health and Welfare Minister told a news conference on Wednesday that Palau has recorded zero COVID-19 cases so far as the number of infections around the world had reached 120 million.

The minister said that some quarantine regulations will be slightly loosened for travellers in the bubble while precautions will be taken.

“In Taiwan, visiting travellers will have to move in groups and take designated shuttle buses.”

He said that incoming tourists would be guided to avoid residential areas and crowded tourist spots.

Joseph Wu, the Foreign Minister told journalists that Whipps, who took office in January, will take a charter flight on March 28 to visit Taiwan for a five-day trip promoting tourism in Palau.

Palau, which took up official relations with Taiwan in 1999, is one of Taiwan’s 15 diplomatic allies.

For ordinary travellers in Taiwan, the first regular outbound flight to Palau is set on April 1.

Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre (CECC) has limited the number of incoming visitors from Palau to 220 weekly and their stay cannot be longer than the right days.

As of Wednesday, Taiwan, an Island of 23.6 million people, has reported 990 COVID-19 cases, including 77 locally transmitted cases and 10 virus-related deaths.