Taipei residents listed as contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases are required to isolate for 14 days at designated quarantine hotels, unless they are able to isolate alone in their own homes, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) announced at a news briefing on Saturday.
The new measure took effect on Saturday.
The regulation is likely to remain in place until infections in the capital city drop to zero, Ko said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
According to the Central Epidemic Command Center, contacts of COVID-19 cases must isolate for 14 days in their own homes.
During that time, they should not share a bedroom or bathroom with those living under the same roof, and they should refrain from having direct physical contact with other people.
Those who are unable to follow the rules must stay in quarantine hotels.
About 10 percent of the Taipei residents who were listed as contacts eventually came down with the disease, Ko said, citing city government data.
The new measure is an attempt to prevent people who are in isolation from spreading COVID-19 to their roommates or family members, Ko said.
About one-third of the domestic COVID-19 cases recorded in the city have been identified as infections within households, city government data showed.
However, under Taipei’s broad definition, household transmission of the virus refers not only to families living under the same roof, but also to people living in shared apartments or who have attended a social gathering in someone’s home.
It was not immediately clear if people listed as contacts would have to pay to stay in a designated quarantine hotel.
The city government is leaning toward exempting them from paying for their accommodation, but that part of the proposal would not be finalized until the city completes negotiations with hotels, Ko said.
The center and Taipei currently provide subsidies of up to NT$14,000 and NT$7,000 respectively for people who stay in quarantine hotels for the 14-day mandatory quarantine period or for self-isolation, and Taipei residents can apply for both.
Beyond isolating contacts of COVID-19 patients, Ko said that the vaccination process is also key to reducing household transmissions.
About 27.8 percent of all Taipei residents have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and the figure is expected to rise to 34 percent by Thursday, he said.
In other news, renowned Taiwanese restaurant chain Din Tai Fung yesterday announced the temporary closure of its Xinsheng branch in Taipei through Tuesday after two of its employees were confirmed to have COVID-19.
The Taipei Department of Health first said that one employee, who was responsible for packing food and had limited interaction with customers, had contracted the virus.
Later yesterday, Din Tai Fung reported that another worker at the branch was infected with COVID-19.
The worker, who checked and packed takeout orders and had not done a shift since Thursday, tested positive on Saturday, the department said.
The Xinsheng branch suspended operations and had all of its employees take a polymerase chain reaction test on Friday, after learning the previous day that a customer who tested positive for COVID-19 had visited the restaurant. The branch had reopened on Saturday.
It is unclear if there is a direct connection between the customer’s case and the employees’ cases.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
RSS