Newly arriving foreign students staying in dormitories should be placed in a school’s quarantine dorm if they have COVID-19 symptoms during their seven-day health management period, and moved to a medically serviced dorm if they test positive for the disease, the Ministry of Education said yesterday.
From Thursday next week, people entering Taiwan are no longer to be required to quarantine, with a seven-day “self-health management” period — known as the “0+7” policy — taking its place.
Students with at least three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine are to be allowed to attend classes or work if they provide a negative rapid test conducted within the previous two days.
Photo: CNA
Eating at restaurants is allowed if dining alone or with close friends or family.
Students without three vaccine doses must quarantine for the first three days, followed by four days of self-health management with the same testing rules.
From Thursday next week, students no longer need a special entry permit, and schools are not required to report the names of newly arrived students to the ministry, Ministry of Education Chief Secretary Liao Hsin-kuo (廖興國) said at the Central Epidemic Command Center’s regular news conference as he presented the ministry’s “0+7” guidelines.
Those who have symptoms, or are sharing a house or dorm with a person who tests positive for COVID-19, should not go to class or work, even if they test negative, Liao said.
Education providers should help arrange transportation from the airport or other port of entry, although students can take public transportation to their accommodations if they have no symptoms, he said.
Institutes should also help students arrange suitable accommodation for their self-health management period, which requires one person per room with a personal bathroom, he said.
As long as these conditions are met, incoming students can stay in their choice of accommodation, including a school dormitory, a rented apartment, with family or friends or in a hotel, Liao said.
Students who arrive on the same day can stay in the same dorm room, but if one of them tests positive, their roommates would need to quarantine as well, he said.
Students in dorms must be moved to a quarantine dormitory at the first sign of symptoms, then be moved to a medically serviced dorm at the school if they test positive for COVID-19, he said.
Students with symptoms on arrival are to take a saliva polymerase chain reaction test at the airport, then take a quarantine taxi or other designated vehicle under the instruction of their school to a quarantine dorm, he said.
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