Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the city government is planning to form a disease prevention taxi fleet, specializing in transporting people under home quarantine to hospital, but it would gauge demand for the service first.
As there are more than 2,500 people under home quarantine for COVID-19 prevention in Taipei, Huang said that a taxi fleet could be established to work with the city government’s health and civil affairs departments to take people under home quarantine to hospitals safely.
If the taxi drivers lose income during their training or because they are placed under home quarantine after taking passengers that are later confirmed to have COVID-19, the city government could subsidize them using a planned disaster relief fund, she said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The Taipei Department of Information and Tourism would also negotiate with hotels in the city to find those that are willing to let foreign nationals placed under home quarantine stay for 14 days, she said, adding that the hotels’ deficits would also be covered by the city government.
After hosting a municipal meeting on COVID-19 response measures, Huang said that the Central Epidemic Command Center has set new rules for transporting people under home quarantine to healthcare facilities, so the city government would need to clarify whether there is demand for the taxi fleet.
The center ordered that people under home quarantine who experience respiratory symptoms be taken to a hospital in an ambulance after the situations is confirmed by the local health department, and those without respiratory symptoms could seek medical assistance through telemedicine services, she said.
However, as the center has clearly stated that people under home quarantine cannot seek medical treatment on their own, the city government would have to ask it to clarify what people should do if they are under quarantine, do not have respiratory symptoms, cannot seek medical treatment through telemedicine services, and do not have family members that can drive them to a hospital, Huang said.
If there is demand for a disease prevention taxi fleet, the city government plans to adopt a charter service system by designating a few taxis to provide the service with protective measures, and which would be dispatched by the city government, she added.
She announced that the city’s 12 district health centers would start selling masks from tomorrow, and people could purchase them using their National Health Insurance card, under the same rules as when buying them at pharmacies.
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