The nation’s disease prevention measures are to be gradually eased to help people resume normal lives, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told officials at an interdepartmental meeting yesterday.
The number of domestic cases of COVID-19 dropped 42 percent last week, the second week after most people returned to work following the Lunar New Year holiday, he said.
Su’s announcement came as several Asian nations are reopening their borders to vaccinated travelers and canceling quarantine requirements.
Photo: CNA
Participants at yesterday’s meeting included officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Labor and the Mainland Affairs Council.
The domestic COVID-19 outbreak is stable and under control, Su said, adding that travel and family gatherings during the Lunar New Year holiday had not led to a dramatic surge in domestic cases.
“This proves that Taiwan is effective in preventing outbreaks of the disease and that any adjustment to disease prevention measures could stand the test of time,” he said.
Although the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 spreads faster than previous variants, most confirmed cases have reported no or only light symptoms, Su said, adding that Taiwan has a sufficient stock of vaccines and other medical resources to control local outbreaks.
The situation remains stable and under control because of the public’s compliance with Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) disease prevention guidelines and local government officials’ enforcement of those disease prevention measures, he said.
While the government would continue to balance the needs of sustaining the economy and controlling outbreaks, disease prevention measures would be gradually adjusted so people’s lives could return to normal, he added.
The CECC should be prepared for the risk of people contracting the virus as disease prevention measures are eased and ensure that the nation has adequate medical resources to cope with potential demand, Su said, adding that this would give people confidence to return to a normal life.
Government agencies should discuss the criteria for allowing business travelers to enter Taiwan, he said.
Separately, Su yesterday told participants at the opening ceremony of this year’s Taipei International Machine Tool Show and Taiwan International Machine Tool Show in Taipei that the government is ready to allow business travelers to return to the nation, adding that the move would greatly facilitate trade with other nations.
CECC data showed that Taiwan’s first-dose and second-dose COVID-19 vaccine coverage rates had reached 82.61 percent and 76.24 percent respectively as of Sunday. The coverage rate of booster shots was 36.40 percent.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, on Thursday last week told the Chinese-language United Daily News that many nations have begun switching their disease prevention policy from containment to coexisting with the virus.
Taiwan’s borders would have to reopen or the economy would fall behind those of nations that have already done so, Chen said.
The CECC is planning to reduce the quarantine period for business travelers from 14 days to 10 days, he said.
Once an open-border policy is implemented, the government would not limit arrivals of business travelers and would consider implementing a quarantine period shorter than 10 days, he added.
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