Lifting the mask mandate might happen in three phases, starting with outdoor settings this month, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it also reported that a shipment of 703,000 doses of Moderna’s bivalent COVID-19 vaccine adapted to the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of SARS-CoV-2 would arrive in Taiwan this morning.
Centers for Disease Control Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩), head of the CECC’s disease surveillance division, said that 24,798 new local cases, 59 imported cases and 66 deaths were confirmed yesterday, with the local caseload dropping 25 percent from Wednesday last week.
Asked about plans to ease the mask mandate, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, said that the first phase would be to lift the requirement for outdoor settings, but whether there would be guidelines for crowded outdoor events at which social distancing with strangers can be difficult — such as election events, concerts or sports events — is still being discussed.
Photo: CNA
For the second phase, the CECC is considering a positive list, listing places at which masking is required, such as healthcare facilities, long-term care facilities and public transportation, Wang said.
However, the CECC would continue to gather information on masking rules in other countries for reference, and it would deal with the details for the first phase first, easing restrictions steadily to avoid public confusion, he said.
The CECC cannot give a definite timeline for when the mask mandate would be completely lifted, but as winter is a peak period for many respiratory infectious diseases, masks can still protect, he said.
Masks are not required in many countries — although they are advised for some situations — so if there is a third phase to ending the mandate in Taiwan, it might be to end mandatory mask rules and only suggest that people wear them in some places, Wang said.
He said that the first shipment of Moderna’s BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccines to arrive this morning would expire on June 27.
The shipment was delayed by one day, but the plan to distribute the doses to local governments on Friday next week would remain unchanged, so they are expected to be available for booster shots for people aged 12 or older from that day, he said.
Asked about the CECC’s plan to expand the group eligible for the government’s at-home COVID-19 rapid test kits to include middle and low-income families, and children aged 12 or younger, Wang said details of the plan would be announced tomorrow.
The CECC is making an inventory of the test kits, he said, adding that about 1.8 million people — 600,000 people in middle or low-income families and 1.22 million elementary-school students — would be added to those eligible.
About 9 million tests kits would be available for the people newly added to the eligible group, but the kits would not be provided through the real-name-based rationing program, he said.
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