Source:
https://scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3083359/coronavirus-taiwan-get-baseball-fans-back-stadiums-it-starts People & Culture
Coronavirus: Taiwan to get baseball fans back in stadiums as it starts to ease restrictions
- Taiwanese stranded in mainland Chinese province of Hubei will also be allowed to make their way back to the island
- There have been no cases of local transmission reported for nearly a month, and it has had just 440 infections and six deaths
A cheerleader waves a flag in an otherwise empty seating section as a Chinese Professional Baseball League game is played in a stadium in New Taipei City with no spectators on April 24. Authorities will gradually allow fans back in to stadiums. Photo: AP
Taiwan will gradually ease restrictions on travel and sporting activities, with the island’s health minister saying efforts to control the coronavirus were paying off.
The island – home to 23 million people – had reported just 440 cases and six deaths from Covid-19 as of Thursday, with no local transmission for close to a month.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said that with very few new cases among people returning to the island from elsewhere, the authorities would allow Taiwanese stranded in the mainland Chinese province of Hubei to make their way back to Taiwan.
“Beginning on Friday, these people who have been stuck in Hubei because of [Taiwan’s] travel ban will be free to return home with no more restrictions,” Chen said, adding they could board any flight to the island.
Taiwan barred its citizens in Hubei and the capital Wuhan – where the coronavirus was first reported late last year – from getting commercial flights home after much of the province was locked down to control the outbreak in late January.
That meant the only way they could return to Taiwan was on a charter flight arranged by the island’s authorities and they would then be quarantined on arrival.
Two such charter flights evacuated a total of 608 Taiwanese from the Hubei area in February. And after the mainland lifted the lockdown in Wuhan in late March, another two flights arranged by the authorities and operated by Taiwan’s China Airlines took a further 827 Taiwanese back to the island.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said allowing baseball fans to return to the stadium would be a psychological boost for the public. Photo: EPA-EFE
But there are at least 100 Taiwanese still stranded in Hubei who want to return home, according to Taiwan’s semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation, which deals with the mainland authorities.
Chen said anyone returning to Taiwan would still be expected to spend 14 days in quarantine at a government-designated facility.
The decision on when to lift other restrictions on travellers from coronavirus-affected countries would be made based on the latest situation, he said.
And with no local transmission reported for nearly a month, the authorities would also begin easing restrictions on sporting activities, which Chen believed would “help boost the psychological health of the public”.
Baseball – the most popular spectator sport in Taiwan – will become the first major sports league to bring fans back to the stadium, a move seen as a source of pride for the island and a symbol of its success during the pandemic.
“We have agreed with [Taiwan’s] Chinese Professional Baseball League to allow fans back in the stadium at each game beginning on Friday,” Chen said, adding that 1,000 spectators would be allowed in initially.
He said if there was no problem, the authorities would then gradually allow in more fans – around 2,000 to 2,500 in the next stage.
The baseball league began its current season on April 12, with local teams playing behind closed doors, watched on by cardboard cut-outs in the stands while the real fans watched broadcasts of the games at home.