The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced that a ban on medical personnel traveling abroad is to last until June 30 and that tightened access controls would be implemented at hospitals to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak at healthcare facilities.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, on Sunday said that medical personnel would be banned from traveling abroad, but the CECC on Monday clarified that there are different levels to the ban, and that the details and complementary measures would be discussed in a meeting on Tuesday.
“The subject of the ban is all medical personnel, of any department and any position, working in hospitals, but those working in clinics are not included,” Ministry of Health and Welfare Department of Medical Affairs Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) told a news conference at the CECC yesterday.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
Medical personnel are strictly prohibited from visiting countries or areas where the center has issued a level 3 “warning” travel advisory for COVID-19 — China, Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea — and they must apply to and gain approval from the ministry if they need to make a visit, he said.
Medical personnel are asked to temporarily avoid travel to countries where a level 2 “alert” or a level 1 “watch” travel advisories have been issued — such as Japan, Singapore, Iran, Italy and Thailand, Shih said, adding that they would have to apply in advance and gain approval from their hospitals before leaving.
The ban went into effect on Sunday and is to last until “June 30, but it might be shortened or extended depending on the COVID-19 epidemic situation,” Shih said. “The prohibition includes layovers in any of these countries or areas.”
Medical personnel who have gained special approval to visit the affected areas must comply with quarantine rules for such areas and would not be allowed to take part in frontline healthcare work for 14 days after returning to Taiwan, he said.
People who have traveled to areas with a level 3 travel advisory in the 14 days prior to their arrival in Taiwan face a 14-day mandatory home quarantine and those arriving from areas with a level 2 or a level 1 travel notice must perform self-health management for 14 days.
Medical personnel who are affected by the travel ban can apply for full compensation for financial losses, such as from canceling flights, under the Special Act on COVID-19 Prevention, Relief and Restoration (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例) passed on Tuesday, Shih said.
The meeting on Tuesday with hospital management also concluded that hospitals must step up access controls to prevent COVID-19 transmission, Shih said, adding that the measures are aimed at three types of visitors.
Hospitals are required to make plans to separate the flow of “patients” moving within hospitals, he said.
They should limit visiting hours and the number of visitors — each inpatient can have only two visitors at one time and only one companion, including caretakers — who must register their personal information and travel and contact history with the hospital, he added.
The ministry also set up management guidelines for dispatch workers, including janitors; waste management personnel; security guards; medical gown, bedding rental and laundry service workers; caretakers; and shop employees, Shih said.
The guidelines include requiring dispatch workers to comply with all procedures set by the hospitals; enter and exit through specially arranged routes; and wear a mask when in health facilities, while hospitals should educate outside contractors about disease-prevention measures and ask them to monitor their employees’ health conditions, he said.
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
Labor rights groups yesterday called on the Ministry of Labor to protect migrant workers in Taiwan’s fishing industry, days after CNN reported alleged far-ranging abuses in the sector, including deaths and forced work. The ministry must enforce domestic labor protection laws on Taiwan-owned deep-sea fishing vessels, the Coalition for Human Rights for Migrant Fishers told a news conference outside the ministry in Taipei after presenting a petition to officials. CNN on Sunday reported that Taiwanese seafood giant FCF Co, the owners of the US-based Bumble Bee Foods, committed human rights abuses against migrant fishers, citing Indonesian migrant fishers. The alleged abuses included denying