Taipei residents diagnosed with COVID-19 should remain under house quarantine for 17 days, effective immediately, Taipei City Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said yesterday.
The announcement followed the Central Epidemic Command Center’s (CECC) most recent policy asking people diagnosed with COVID-19, but who show no or only mild symptoms, to remain in home quarantine to prevent hospitals from being flooded with patients.
People who exhibit symptoms and cannot quarantine at their registered residence would be moved to hotels set up with isolation facilities for 10 days, Huang said.
If after 10 days they no longer exhibit COVID-19 symptoms and doctors approve their release, they would be allowed to quarantine at home for a week, she said, adding that the hospital or screening stations would have designated taxis transport them to their home.
Taipei hospitals have been at or near capacity dealing with patients exhibiting mild or no symptoms who were previously unable to leave due to epidemic prevention restrictions, but as of yesterday, these patients can be moved to designated quarantine facilities, Huang said.
This would resolve issues of people arriving at hospitals where there were no available beds in isolation wards, she added.
There was also a significant discrepancy in the number of available hospital beds the CECC sees in its system — 682 — compared with the 20 available beds that the Taipei City Government’s data show, she said.
The situation at hospitals is in constant flux, and the CECC cannot know what is going on without being present, she added.
“We are coming up daily with ways to simplify procedures to allow medical personnel to see to more people,” she said, urging the public to give hotels and staff working around the clock more encouragement and empathy.
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