Starting from midnight today, travelers arriving on flights from South and Southeast Asian countries would be required to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test upon arrival and wait for the test results at the airport, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday.
The center on Monday last week began implementing an enhanced airport testing policy, in which passengers arriving on long-haul flights — those from Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, New Zealand and Australia — must take a PCR test immediately upon arrival and wait for the results at the airport. Those who test negative are allowed to proceed to customs, while those who test positive are sent to a quarantine facility.
Although the policy was implemented to reduce the risk of infection for airport workers and other disease prevention personnel, an airport staffer and a disease prevention taxi driver contracted COVID-19 last week, prompting the CECC to expand the measure to other countries.
Photo: CNA
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, yesterday said that starting from midnight today the enhanced airport testing policy would be expanded to travelers arriving on flights from South and Southeast Asian countries.
Travelers who test negative can continue with entry procedures and take a disease prevention taxi to their quarantine hotel or centralized quarantine facility, he said.
Those who test positive would be taken to a separate exit and transported in an ambulance to a hospital, centralized quarantine facility or enhanced disease prevention hotel, he said.
In addition to long-haul flights, there are more than 10 flights from South and Southeast Asian countries that are expected to arrive today, Chen said.
On Tuesday, 18 among 393, or 4.58 percent, passengers arriving on six flights tested positive; while 10 among 223, or 4.48 percent, passengers arriving on five flights tested positive yesterday morning, he said.
Asked to confirm media reports that airport disease prevention personnel have repeatedly taken off and put on the same isolation gown during work, Chen said the CECC’s airport on-site command center has set clear instructions for when contracted airport workers should put on and take off their isolation gown, adding that the gowns should not be worn more than once.
Regarding a confirmed case — No. 17, 928, an airport disease prevention staffer reported on Sunday — Chen said 73 people associated with the case tested negative and were asked to practice self-health management.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
RSS