Contacts of COVID-19 cases can apply for reimbursement of their mandatory hotel quarantine costs, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
The statement came after a forum hosted by the National Policy Foundation, a think tank affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), earlier yesterday urged the government to fully subsidize quarantines.
The foundation’s Sustainable Development Division head Arthur Chen (陳宜民) said that the government is not living up to its promises, as medical workers who had to quarantine only received NT$65,000 (US$2,332) each, far below the legal limit of NT$2.65 million set in Article 4 of the Regulations Governing Subsidies for Injuries, Illnesses or Deaths due to Performing Control Measures against Category V Communicable Diseases (執行第五類傳染病防治工作致傷病或死亡補助辦法).
Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau via CNA
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, told the center’s daily news conference that local governments would receive an official notice within two days informing them that the central government would cover all quarantine expenses of listed contacts of COVID-19 cases, regardless of whether they or the local government had already paid.
Quarantine expenses incurred from Dec. 14 last year would be covered, the CECC said, adding that about 6,000 people would benefit from the retroactive coverage.
People should not have to pay NT$30,000 to NT$40,000 for quarantines after involuntarily or at work coming into contact with an infected person, the center said.
Chen said that the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s budget is NT$182.6 billion, instead of the NT$800 billion budget claimed by KMT Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗).
Arthur Chen also urged the CECC to ask the government to open Taiwan’s borders for larger groups of travelers.
Many states, such as the UK, the US, Singapore and Spain, have relaxed their border regulations and allow travelers fulfilling their requirements to enter without quarantining, he said.
Taiwan should not delay opening its borders until June, as it would be out of sync with the world and cause more harm to the nation’s tourism industry, he said.
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