The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) has reduced the quarantine period for all international travelers arriving in Taiwan after 12am on Wednesday to three days of home quarantine, followed by four days of self-disease prevention.
It also announced revised rules for Taiwan-based airline crew, exempting quarantine for those who have received a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine more than 14 days beforehand.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that from 12am on Wednesday, according to the scheduled arrival time, all travelers — irrespective of nationality and visa status — arriving in Taiwan would be eligible for the new policy.
Photo: Yao Chieh-hsiu, Taipei Times
The current policy is seven days of quarantine followed by seven days of self-health management, while the new policy is three days of home quarantine, followed by four days of self-disease prevention.
During the self-monitoring period, people are contacted daily by local authorities, but they can go out if they do not show symptoms, while avoiding gatherings and hospital visits.
The new policy does not require a self-health management period, Chen said.
However, travelers would still be required to present the negative result of a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken within two days of boarding their flight.
Chen said a saliva-based PCR test would be required at the airport on arrival, adding that travelers can take a disease prevention vehicle, or a private vehicle driven by a family member or friend or dispatched by a facility, to the quarantine location.
Inbound travelers must spend three days in home quarantine, he said, adding that they must then perform four days of self-disease prevention, in which they can go out to work or to buy necessities as long as they have tested negative using a rapid antigen test at home the same day or the previous day.
Chen said each inbound traveler aged two or older would receive two at-home rapid test kits at the airport for use if they develop symptoms and before they leave the quarantine location for the first time.
They must also wear a mask and maintain social distance when going out during the self-disease prevention period, he added.
While unnecessary outings should be avoided, they can perform work duties, such as contractual obligations, visiting people, giving lectures or attending meetings, he said, adding that they should avoid going to crowded places or being in contact with strangers, and nonurgent medical treatment or examinations should be postponed.
Business travelers who have contractual obligations can eat alone or with specified people, but with dividers or under proper social distance at a separate space in a restaurant, he added.
Migrant workers, fishers and students are not allowed to go to work or school while performing self-disease prevention, due to the increased risk of cluster infections, the CECC said.
Chen said there would initially be a cap of 25,000 arrivals per week.
In addition, the minister announced that also starting at 12am on Wednesday, fully vaccinated, Taiwan-based airline crew members who have had a booster shot would be subject to a policy of “testing to replace quarantine.”
Fully vaccinated crew members who have had booster shots would be subject to seven days of self-health monitoring, a PCR test on the day of arrival, and a rapid or PRC test every two days after returning on a long-haul flight.
They would be subject to five days of self-health monitoring — a rapid or PCR test every day, until five days after the last flight duty — after returning on a short-haul flight.
Crew members who are not fully vaccinated would be required to follow a “3+4 quarantine” policy — three days of home quarantine, followed by four days of self-health monitoring after returning from a long-haul flight.
They are required to follow seven days of self-health monitoring, including a rapid or PRC test every day for seven days after the last flight duty after returning from a short-haul flight.
Asked if there is a possibility of easier overseas travel before September, Chen said it is possible, but border control measures would be eased very carefully.
He said the inbound traveler capacity cap would for now be expanded from about 18,000 to 20,000 people per week, and if infection control measures run smoothly, reopening might be accelerated.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS