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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Taipei bans eating, drinking in cinemas
Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau employees disinfect Taichung Railway Station, which was visited by a confirmed COVID-19 case from New Taipei City. Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
KEEPING MASKS ON: Concession stands may still sell food and beverages, but guests may not eat them inside movie theaters, although offenders would not be fined for now
By Tsai Ya-hua and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA
Starting today, eating and drinking in Taipei movie theaters is to be banned as the city government seeks to bolster its disease prevention measures.
Movie theaters may continue to sell food and beverages, but customers cannot consume them on the premises, Taipei Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun （蔡炳坤） said.
The ban aims to ensure that people keep their masks on at all times when watching a movie, as they would be in close proximity to others inside a movie theater, he added.
The new measure does not mean the COVID-19 alert level was being raised and it only aims to adjust precautions at movie theaters, Taipei Department of Information and Tourism Commissioner Liu Yi-ting （劉奕霆） said.
“Customers can still buy snacks and beverages, and eat them outside the theater hall while waiting for the movie to start,” he said.
There have been recent cases with unknown infection sources, so the city has been looking at measures to improve public safety, he added.
Offenders would not be fined for now, Tsai said, calling on the public and theaters to cooperate.
Tsai said the city would later this week reopen its online vaccine appointment Web site to finish off a stock of 80,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
People can make appointments on the Web site on Friday and Saturday, he said, adding that vaccinations would begin on Monday.
Walk-in vaccination sites, such as the one in Taipei Railway Station, stopped work on Thursday for the Lunar New Year holiday, and would resume service on Monday next week, offering 600 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and the AstraZeneca vaccine each every day.
Meanwhile, the Central Epidemic Command Center （CECC） yesterday reported 17 domestic and 38 imported COVID-19 cases.
As 10 of the domestic cases tested positive during quarantine after being listed as close contacts of other confirmed cases, the spread of COVID-19 in Taiwan remains under control, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang （莊人祥）, the CECC’s spokesman.
Sixteen of the new local cases were linked to previously reported clusters in Taoyuan, Kaohsiung, the greater Taipei area and Yilan County, while the source of one case, who was confirmed in Kaohsiung, but had recently been to New Taipei City, is being investigated, the CECC said.
Eleven of the new cases were classified as breakthrough infections.
One had received one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, while three, including one under the age of 10, have not been vaccinated.
The vaccination status of two cases is still being investigated, the CECC said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
