The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced supplementary measures to its autumn-winter COVID-19 prevention program, including special conditions under which travelers can visit Taiwan without presenting a negative COVID-19 test result, and measures for overseas Taiwanese infected with the virus to return home for treatment.
The center on Wednesday last week announced the program, which is to be implemented from Dec. 1 to Feb. 28, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Taiwan as the number of confirmed cases continues to grow rapidly around the world.
The program includes tighter border control measures, mandatory mask-wearing rules and expanded testing criteria.
However, a requirement that all travelers, including Taiwanese, present a negative result from a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken within three days of boarding a flight for Taiwan has sparked public concern.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, yesterday said that people who fall under three special conditions can be exempted from the requirement.
The first condition involves “family emergencies and medical emergencies,” which include attending a funeral or visiting a critically ill family member — limited to first or second-degree relatives — or special cases that need emergency medical treatment, the center said.
The second condition concerns travelers from “a country where a paid-out-of-pocket PCR test is unavailable,” such as in the Pacific island countries of Tuvalu, Niue, Fiji and Tonga, the CECC said.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is the CECC deputy head, said that a survey by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggests that paid-out-of-pocket PCR tests are unavailable in only about 10 percent of the countries around the world, and they are available in nearly all countries with direct flights to Taiwan.
Regarding families traveling from countries where PCR testing is unavailable for children, the CECC would allow the children to return home without providing a negative test result, but the parents must still provide negative results, he said.
The third condition involves “special cases approved by the CECC,” such as necessary short-term governmental or business trips, the center said.
Chen Shih-chung said the special conditions are limited to Republic of China citizens, foreign nationals who hold an Alien Resident Certificate, and people from China, Hong Kong and Macau who hold a residency permit.
Travelers transiting in Taiwan are not included, he said.
People who meet any of the conditions would be allowed to board a plane to Taiwan without providing a negative test result, but they would be seated in a designated section on the plane and asked to take a paid-out-of-pocket PCR test at the airport upon arrival, Chen Tsung-yen said.
Chen Shih-chung said that people who do not provide a negative PCR test result and return to Taiwan on their own would be asked to take a paid-out-of-pocket PCR test at the airport upon arrival, but they would not be eligible for a quarantine subsidy.
They would also face a fine of NT$10,000 to NT$150,000 for contravening the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法), he said, adding that they might also face criminal charges if they test positive for COVID-19 and are at risk of infecting others.
Chen Shih-chung also said that although the center on June 17 announced two requirements for overseas Taiwanese infected with COVID-19 to return home, people who do not meet those criteria, but face a difficult medical situation can apply to return to Taiwan on a medical charter flight.
They should entrust international air ambulance services, airlines, or healthcare facilities in Taiwan to apply to the CECC for special approval, and only return on a chartered flight with proper protective measures, he added.
The two requirements are: “The onset of symptoms and the flight boarding date must be at least two months apart, and the symptoms must have been relieved,” and the patients “must test negative in two PCR tests conducted at least 10 days after the onset of symptoms.”
Chen Shih-chung said if overseas Taiwanese face difficult situations that obstruct them from obtaining a negative PCR test result or from returning home, they can notify the CECC so that it can offer assistance.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS