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The Dragon Boat Festival, that falls on 14^th June this year, is one of Chinese traditional holidays with long history for family gathering/ reunion. On that day, there are quite a number of interesting customs and activities such as watching dragon boat races, balancing eggs at noon, having sticky rice dumplings, wearing fragrant sachets, etc., as of celebration and being said to protect from evil and diseases for the rest of the year. Here in Taiwan, we will celebrate the holiday somehow differently this year with family and friends through videos and calls.

Since the coronavirus outbreak across the world, Taiwan once obtained the world’s longest streak of case-free days and nearly unblemished success in Covid-19 defenses for almost 18 months. Unfortunately, a nationwide Level 3 Covid-19 Alert was imposed on 19^th May and has been extended to 28^th June in response to a COVID-19 outbreak that has grown to over 10,000 domestically transmitted cases since mid-May. However, the best thing that the pandemic brought to the table is “empathy”. While the pandemic is tearing us apart, empathy could be part of the solutions to generate a trusting and compassionate relationship with one another to confront the stressful and tough times.

The Dragon Boat Festival is traditionally a time of travel to family in the home town and gatherings with love ones from different cities; however, no travel is risk-free. To slow transmission of Covid-19 disease within the nation, please stay put for the coming festival long weekend and follow the restrictions of Level 3 Alert.

Wish all a wonderful and safe Dragon Boat Festival!