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.
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