Modified standards to allow people who have tested positive for COVID-19, but have no symptoms, to be released from isolation after arriving from overseas are to be implemented today, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that from today, asymptomatic individuals who test positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Taiwan would be divided into two groups.
The first group is “arriving travelers who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in other countries and later tested negative twice before entering Taiwan,” Chen said.
He said that they would be released from isolation if they meet three requirements: They show no symptoms; they have tested positive for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19; and the first respiratory specimen collected in Taiwan has a low viral load — a cycle threshold (CT) value of 34 or higher in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test — and a follow-up PCR test taken within three days is negative, or has a CT value of 34 or higher.
The second group is “arriving travelers who have not been diagnosed with COVID-19 in other countries, but tested positive after completing quarantine in Taiwan,” Chen said, adding that there are three requirements for them to be released from isolation:
They must test positive for the immunoglobulin G antibody and negative for the immunoglobulin M antibody, and the other two requirements are the same as the first and third in the other group, he said.
“The specialists believe that people who meet these requirements would not pose an infection risk to others, so they can be released from isolation,” he said.
A new imported case of COVID-19 was confirmed yesterday, a Philippine migrant worker in his 20s who arrived in Taiwan on Feb. 28, Chen said.
The man had provided a negative result from a PCR test conducted within three days of boarding his flight to Taiwan, and was not symptomatic upon arrival, but during quarantine on Thursday last week he reported mild coughing and a fever, and a test result returned positive yesterday, Chen said.
As local COVID-19 outbreaks have been reported in East Timor and Mauritius, the two nations have been moved from the list of low-risk infection countries or areas to medium-low infection risk countries or areas, from which short-term business travelers can apply for shortened quarantine periods, Chen said.
Hong Kong has been added to the list of medium-low infection risk countries or areas, he said.
Asked when the first batch of about 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday last week, would be administered, Chen said that they are in the final step of a Food and Drug Administration lot release procedure required for biological products.
There are seven items to be reviewed and tested in the procedure, and the AstraZeneca vaccines have passed six, with the last step a sterility test, he said, adding that they would be released as soon as they pass the test.
Asked about a plan to establish a “travel bubble” between Taiwan and Palau, Chen said that the two nations have agreed on an overall plan, although some details need to be ironed out, including that Palau had hoped visitors from Taiwan would be required to receive a rapid antigen test upon arrival there, but the CECC disagreed.
The center believes that antigen tests can produce a relatively high rate of false positives, which would likely ruin many travel plans, he said.
The CECC hopes to rely on a more accurate PCR test conducted in Taiwan before traveling, but the two sides have not reached an agreement yet, he said.
As for quarantine rules for Taiwanese visitors returning from Palau, Chen said that the center leans toward requiring them to practice five days of “enhanced self-health management,” followed by a PCR test, and another nine days of self-health management if they test negative.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to