Starting on Sunday, travelers from China will be required to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test upon arrival in Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 27,942 new local cases.
The Chinese National Health Commission on Monday announced that it would drop quarantine requirements for inbound travelers from Jan. 8. It also removed restrictions on the number of international flights and passenger capacity, and said that people with COVID-19 would no longer need to self-isolate.
Following the announcement, governments across the world started implementing measures to test or restrict travelers from China.
Photo: CNA
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday said that starting at midnight tomorrow, travelers from China or those who have been in China within the previous seven days would be subject to a mandatory COVID-19 test upon arrival. Those who test positive would be quarantined for seven days. Direct flights from China, Hong Kong and Macau would be allowed to depart from and land at only four airports in Japan.
The US government is considering imposing new COVID-19 measures on travelers to the US from China, Reuters reported yesterday.
Malaysia has imposed new tracking and surveillance measures.
Photo: AP
India began random testing of about 2 percent of passengers arriving from other countries at all international airports a week ago to minimize the risk of any new variant entering the country.
Philippine Secretary of Transportation Jaime Bautista yesterday called for COVID-19 measures, including testing of inbound travelers from China.
“We should be very cautious, because if they have a lot of COVID cases, we should be careful about Chinese visitors coming into the Philippines,” he told reporters.
At an enlarged Cabinet meeting yesterday morning, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that Taiwan generally has not allowed Chinese travelers into the nation since the pandemic began, but more than 30,000 people are expected to arrive from China during the Lunar New Year holiday.
Su said that as some countries have taken action, he has instructed the CECC to implement preventive measures.
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the center, in the afternoon said that from Sunday to Jan. 31, travelers from China — either on direct flights from four Chinese cities, or on ferries or flights through the “small three links” to the outlying counties of Kinmen or Lienchiang — would have to show a negative PCR test result upon arrival.
The direct flights from China do not include those from Hong Kong and Macau, and travelers do not include airline crew members, the CECC said.
Wang said inbound travelers need to practice seven days of self-disease prevention even if they test negative.
Those who test positive would be subjected to the “5+n” rule — five days of home isolation, followed by up to seven days of self-health management until they test negative with a rapid test.
Virus samples would be taken from travelers who test positive and sent to the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) laboratory for genome sequencing, in a bid to detect possible mutations in SARS-CoV-2 strains, he added.
People undergoing seven days of self-disease prevention must take a rapid test on the day of arrival or the first day of self-disease prevention, the CECC said.
They also must take a rapid test if they develop symptoms and must test negative in a rapid test two days prior to leaving home.
The Cabinet implemented the policy due to a lack of data transparency amid a COVID-19 surge in China, Wang said, adding that inbound travelers should seek medical attention as soon as possible if they develop symptoms.
The CECC yesterday also reported 27,942 new local cases, up 46.7 percent from Wednesday last week, 226 imported cases and 25 deaths.
Wang is tomorrow to travel to Lienchiang to meet with County Commissioner Wang Chung-ming (王忠銘) to better understand the outlying county’s healthcare capacity, as well as its testing and quarantine preparations, the CECC said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
NINE-IN-ONE ELECTIONS: Prosecutors’ offices recorded 115 cases of alleged foreign interference in the presidential election campaign from August 2023 to Dec. 13 last year The National Security Bureau (NSB) yesterday said that it has begun planning early to counter Chinese interference in next year’s nine-in-one elections as its intelligence shows that Beijing might intensify its tactics, while warning of continued efforts to infiltrate the government and military. The bureau submitted a report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of a meeting today of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. “We will research situations in different localities and keep track of abnormalities to ensure that next year’s elections proceed without disruption,” the bureau said. Although the project is generally launched during election years, reports of alleged Chinese interference
RSS