The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said it has asked the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) to coordinate with three Taiwan-based airlines to improve their quarantine measures for flight crew members at layovers. It also reported six new imported cases of COVID-19.
The CECC’s request came after the discovery of a cluster infection related to case No. 765, an EVA Airways pilot from New Zealand who is suspected of having transmitted the disease to two other pilots during a flight to the US on Dec. 12, and to a woman during his rest days in Taiwan.
The woman — case No. 771, reported on Tuesday — became the first locally transmitted COVID-19 infection in Taiwan since April.
Photo: CNA
The cluster infection sparked a public debate over special quarantine rules for flight crew members.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, yesterday said that shorter home quarantine periods for airline crew members — three days for pilots and five days for flight attendants — aim to help airlines keep operating, but the carriers must meet certain standards first.
The strict disease prevention measures that must be taken on board airplanes, at layover locations and upon returning home are why flight crew members can be exempted from the 14-day mandatory quarantine, Chen said.
However, the cluster infection shows that the airline has failed to thoroughly implement disease prevention measures, he said, adding that airlines should be held accountable.
The center has asked the CAA to discuss with the airlines how they can improve their management of crew members practicing disease prevention measures, especially at layover locations, as well as the punishments for airlines whose personnel fail to implement the measures.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is the deputy head of the center, said on Tuesday evening that flight crew members of Taiwan-based airlines have been on about 54,000 duties since March 19, and 23 cases of quarantine rule breaches have since been reported.
Of those, 13 occurred at layover locations and 10 occurred in Taiwan, he said.
Chen Tsung-yen yesterday said that disease prevention measures for flight crew members include having them ride designated vehicles to a hotel after arriving in a layover location, where they would be banned from leaving the hotel, but recent cases show that airlines need to improve their supervision of crew members at layovers.
The CAA and the airlines have been asked to present their improvement plans and punishment principles within a week, he said.
The six imported cases reported yesterday are three migrant workers from the Philippines, and two fishermen and one migrant worker from Indonesia, Chen Tsung-yen said.
They all provided negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results issued within three days of boarding a plane to Taiwan, he said.
The Philippine workers — two women in their 20s and 30s, and a man in his 20s — arrived in Taiwan on Dec. 8 and 9, did not show any symptoms at arrival, but tested positive upon ending centralized quarantine on Monday and Tuesday, he added.
The Indonesian is a woman in her 30s who arrived Taiwan on Nov. 27, did not show any symptoms, and had twice tested negative in an expanded testing project on Nov. 27 and upon ending centralized quarantine on Dec. 10, Chen Tsung-yen said.
One of the fisherman, who is in his 30s, arrived in Taiwan on Dec. 3, and stayed at a quarantine hotel until Thursday last week, Chen Tsung-yen said.
The other fisherman, who is in his 20s, arrived in Taiwan on Thursday last week, Chen Tsung-yen said.
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