Taiwan will ban foreign travelers starting on Friday after reporting the first imported case of the new U.K. strain of COVID-19.

Out of 114 passengers on a China Airlines flight from the U.K. to Taiwan on Sunday, three tested positive for coronavirus, including a teenager who was infected with the new strain.

In response to the cases, Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center announced stricter border control measures for a month, barring all foreigners without residency permits from entry starting on New Year’s Day.

Spouses and underage children of Taiwanese citizens will not be affected by the new restrictions. Those entering for diplomatic reasons, internal transfers of transnational companies or with special permits, including for humanitarian reasons, would also not be affected.

Transfers at Taiwan’s airports will also be banned beginning on Friday, Minister of Health Chen Shih-chung said.

The new COVID strain has shown strong transmission potential especially among young people, said the CECC’s expert advisor Chang Shan-chwen, citing research from the U.K.

The other two cases on the China Airlines flight were a British man in his 30s and a Taiwanese teenage girl, according to the center’s spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang. They have low amounts of the virus remaining in their bodies and thus have no transmission potential, Chuang said.

Due to the new situation, Taiwan’s Presidential Office will not allow audiences to attend the flag-raising ceremony on New Year’s Day. Other in-person activities at the office would be canceled too.

Taipei’s New Year’s Eve celebration would continue in principle, but it could be suspended if cases of community transmissions emerge, said Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je. The city’s government will adjust its policies with reference to intelligence from the central government, and the new normal would be to live with the virus, Ko said.

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