Starting today, foreign travelers who have visited India in the past 14 days, but do not have a valid Taiwanese resident certificate would be temporarily banned from entering Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
The announcement came after the center on Sunday said that all travelers who have been to India in the past 14 days, including transit passengers, would be placed in 14 days of centralized quarantine upon entering Taiwan, starting today.
They would also be required to take a mandatory polymerase chain reaction test for COVID-19 upon ending quarantine, and practice seven days of self-health management if they test negative.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
The CECC also announced new disease prevention measures for flight crew members, after more than two dozen confirmed cases have been reported among China Airlines (中華航空) cargo pilots and staff at the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel, as well as their family members, since last month.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, last week said that the infection source might be flight crew members of foreign airlines who stayed at the hotel, where many China Airlines crew members have been quarantined upon returning to Taiwan.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is deputy head of the center, said that the new policies aim to clearly separate the flight crew members of Taiwanese airlines from those of foreign airlines, as they are subject to different quarantine rules.
All crew members of foreign airlines would only stay in one designated hotel during their layovers in Taiwan, he said, adding that the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and the Taoyuan City Government would choose the hotel, he said.
Quarantine dormitories for crew members of Taiwanese airlines would be chosen by the CAA and operated by Novotel following disinfection, Chen Tsung-yen said, adding that the hotel would need to apply to the Taoyuan City Government for approval.
The CECC has asked the CAA to help Taiwanese airlines inspect the overseas layover arrangements of their crew members to avoid unnecessary exposure to local ground crew or hotel staff, he said.
It also asked the CAA to supervise the airlines to thoroughly monitor their employees’ health conditions, report symptoms and disinfect their shuttle vehicles, he said.
The airlines would also be asked to evaluate whether they can allow crew members to report for duty online or separately, he added.
Separately, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that Taiwan has done a good job of fighting COVID-19, but there are a few flaws that could be improved, including different quarantine rules for airline crew members and arriving travelers, and not separating personnel and spaces at quarantine hotels.
Flight crew members should also be quarantined for 14 days, or they should be required to get vaccinated to have shorter quarantine periods, he said.
The cluster of infections linked to China Airlines and Novotel was caused by the same mistake that caused an outbreak at Taoyuan General Hospital earlier this year, Ko said.
Quarantine hotels and designated COVID-19 hospitals must separate their employees into groups that only work in designated areas to avoid cross-infection, he said.
Asked for comment, Chen Shih-chung said the quarantine policies can be further discussed with specialists, the CAA and the airlines.
TIGHTENED RULES: Employees in the affected sectors must be fully vaccinated by Jan. 1 or provide an exemption certificate, and they must undergo COVID-19 testing People working in sectors supervised by the education, economics, labor, and health and welfare ministries must be fully vaccinated by next month, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. “Starting from Jan. 1, vaccination rules for workers at industries supervised by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Labor, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare will be further enhanced,” said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman. New employees and those returning to work must provide a negative COVID-19 test result — an antigen rapid test, at-home rapid
THREAT REMAINS: With cases rising in many parts of the world, the minister urged the public to continue complying with the disease prevention regulations Taiwan can be considered to have achieved “COVID zero” status, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday, despite the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) reporting 21 imported cases of COVID-19, the highest number of daily imported infections reported this year. Chen, who heads the CECC, said no local infections or deaths were reported, but 21 imported cases were confirmed yesterday. The imported cases are eight men and 13 women who arrived from Belize, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and the US, Chen said. The highest number of daily imported infections last year was 25 cases on March 23, he
NO ENTRY: The refusal to process Lithuanian goods at Chinese ports suggests that they have been ordered to do so by an official entity, a trade group head said The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on the governments of other EU member states to jointly respond to Beijing blocking Lithuanian exports from entering China, as “Lithuania is not listed on the [Chinese customs] system as a country.” Lithuanian media Web site 15min.lt yesterday cited a Lithuanian wood exporter as saying that it was not allowed to unload its goods at an unnamed Chinese port. The company said that its Chinese partner cited customs authorities as saying that any merchandise or shipments related to Lithuania would be refused, effective immediately. Lithuanian timber exporter Sprusas confirmed that Lithuanian goods could be loaded
‘RESOLUTELY COMMITTED’: Sparking a crisis in the Taiwan Strait would be in no one’s interest, starting with China, the US secretary of state told a conference US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Reuters Next conference on Friday that Chinese leaders should think carefully about their actions toward Taiwan, warning of “terrible consequences” if China precipitates a crisis across the Taiwan Strait. In an interview, Blinken addressed multiple foreign policy challenges facing the administration of US President Joe Biden, including faltering efforts to repair the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine and the spiraling conflict in Ethiopia. Most acute might be China’s increasingly aggressive posture toward Taiwan. Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) has said tensions with China are at their worst in
RSS