Ontario airport continues flights to and from Taiwan, despite ‘high risk’ coronavirus warning

5 Feb 2020 15:22:07

dailybulletin.com

Flights from Ontario International Airport have continued unabated to Taiwan, the island territory run independent of China, even though the World Health Organization considers travel to China as well as Taiwan a “very high risk” due to the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus in Asia.

The WHO travel advisory lumping in Taiwan with mainland China is misleading, say Taiwanese officials, because the majority of cases are in China, with only a few in Taiwan.

Italy banned travel

Nonetheless, the rise in cases combined with the WHO warning has resulted in a travel ban from Italy to Taiwan, where all flights from the European country to Taiwan have been canceled, Abraham Chu, director of the Taipei Economic Cultural Office in Los Angeles, said in an interview Tuesday, Feb. 4.

Chu said Taiwanese authorities on both sides of the Pacific Ocean are negotiating with the Italians to drop the ban. The Taiwanese have convinced other nations, including the United States, not to follow the WHO warning.

“It is totally wrong,” Chu said. “Health is not politics. It should be separated. The simple truth is Taiwan is not part of the People’s Republic of China.”

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