With more than 10,000 people in home quarantine due to COVID-19, the Taipei City Government yesterday urged the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) to centralize quarantine measures or require mandatory stays in quarantine hotels for Taiwanese returning home.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said the city is making the call because it has the highest number of confirmed cases in the nation — at more than 100 — most of which were family cross-infections.
For example, case No. 365, announced yesterday, is the four-year-old grandchild of case No. 356, who was infected by case No. 343, her spouse, who returned from the US and was symptom-free when he began home quarantine, but tested positive on Friday, Huang said.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Department of Information and Tourism
People under home quarantine could still pass the virus to family members, who could pass it on to coworkers or classmates, making the potential social costs extremely high, she said.
Cross-infections remain Taiwan’s major source of domestic COVID-19 transmissions, Huang said, urging Taipei residents who return from overseas to contact the city government, which would help them arrange stays in quarantine hotels.
The CECC provides a subsidy of NT$1,000 per day for home quarantine, and another NT$1,000 if they stay in a quarantine hotel.
The city government yesterday also opened an online application for a city subsidy of NT$500, she said.
Taipei residents who stay in a quarantine hotel during the mandatory quarantine period can there fore receive a total subsidy of at least NT$2,500 per day, she said.
As the city’s subsidy policy was announced on March 19, people who are under quarantine on or after the date can apply for the subsidy within six months from the end of their quarantine period, Taipei Department of Information and Tourism Commissioner Liu Yi-ting (劉奕霆) said.
The amount of subsidy will be proportionally calculated according to how long the person’s quarantine period overlaps with the date, with the maximum being NT$7,000 for 14 days, Liu added.
Meanwhile, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) on Sunday renewed his call to have all travelers entering the nation tested for the virus, as imported cases account for 86 percent of the total number of cases, 4.6 percent of whom are asymptomatic.
By conducting tests on every incoming traveler and centralizing quarantine, instead of self-quarantine at home, Taiwan might be able to “block the virus 100 percent off the national borders,” he said, adding that the earlier, the better.
Additional reporting by Chen Hsin-yu
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