Effective March 7, Taiwan is to shorten quarantine for Taiwanese and foreign business travelers to 10 days from 14, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
The new policy is part of the center’s moves to ease COVID-19 restrictions following a steady decline in locally transmitted cases, while maintaining a nationwide level 2 alert for the pandemic.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that starting on March 7, foreign business travelers would be allowed to enter the country if they have secured special entry permissions from Taiwanese embassies or representative offices abroad.
Photo: CNA
Business travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau can only enter the country if they are here to sign contracts or assume new job positions, the center said.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese companies must apply for special entry permissions from the National Immigration Agency if their guests are from China, or from Taiwan’s economic and cultural offices in Hong Kong or Macau if they are from the two Chinese territories.
While quarantine is to be reduced to 10 days, foreign arrivals are still required to practice self-health management for another seven days and undergo two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and five rapid tests during this period, the center said.
Travelers can quarantine at their own residences or those of friends and relatives, provided they stay alone or with family members traveling with them, the center said, adding that those who do not have such facilities must stay in quarantine hotels or government quarantine facilities.
PCR tests are to be administered upon entering Taiwan and on the 10th day of the quarantine, and travelers are to take rapid tests on the third, fifth and seventh days of their quarantine, and on the third day and sixth or seventh day of their self-health management period, the center said.
Rapid test kits would be available to foreign business travelers upon arrival, it added.
Local residents must observe similar rules, the center said.
In addition to following the “one person per household” principle and undergoing two PCR tests during the 10-day quarantine period, local residents must take two rapid tests on the fifth, sixth or seventh day during quarantine and on the sixth or seventh day during self-health management.
The CECC also announced an easing of other COVID-19 restrictions, including on masks, from Tuesday next week.
People would be exempt from wearing a mask if they are engaged in sports or exercising, doing photoshoots, or driving alone or with family members, it said.
Passengers on Taiwan Railways Administration and high-speed rail trains, freeway buses, ferries and domestic flights would be allowed to eat and drink on board, it added.
Food tasting at supermarkets would be allowed, while toasting from table to table during banquets would be permitted, it said.
Travelers to outlying islands would no longer be required to take rapid tests for COVID-19 at airports or seaports, it said.
Except for hospitals in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Kaohsiung, in which patient visitation remains prohibited, hospitals in other cities or counties would be open to visitors, it said.
Hospital visitors who have received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine or present proof of their recovery from the disease would be exempt from having to show a negative test result, the center added.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS