Some local governments backtrack on on-site dining decisions
ROC Central News Agency
07/10/2021 10:29 PM
Taipei, July 10 (CNA) Several cities and counties in central and southern Taiwan decided Saturday to retain their bans on on-site dining, backtracking on their announcements the previous day to adopt the central government's guidelines on the resumption of such services from July 13.
The local governments in Tainan, Pingtung, Changhua, Nantou and Hualien all said Saturday that they had decided to reverse course and extend the restrictions to July 26.
Taitung County, which had not announced a decision previously, made a similar call.
In Pingtung County, which is heavily dependent on tourism, Magistrate Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said he was worried about "creating chaos" if Pingtung became the only place to allow indoor dining.
He apologized to local restaurant owners, asking them to "hang on just a little bit longer."
Meanwhile, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said his decision was not intended to buck the central government's policy but rather to acknowledge that "people have concerns."
In light of the current COVID-19 situation in the country, it is best to "play it safe," he said.
With the reversal of those local governments' decisions on the issue, only the outlying islands of Penghu and Kinmen plan to resume on-site dining next week.
The debate on the issue stems from the Central Epidemic Command Center's decision on Thursday to extend Taiwan's Level 3 COVID-19 alert through July 26, while easing some of the restrictions, including a nationwide ban on indoor dining, from July 13.
The Level 3 alert first went into effect in Taipei and New Taipei -- the two main COVID-19 hotspots in Taiwan -- on May 15 and was extended to the rest of the country four days later.
(By Kuo Chih-hsuan, Chang Jung-hsiang and Matthew Mazzetta)
Enditem/pc
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