Starting today, confirmed COVID-19 cases are required to isolate at home for seven days, followed by up to seven days of self-health management, to end when they test negative with a rapid test, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
The new policy, dubbed “7+n,” replaces the “7+7” rule that required confirmed cases to isolate at home for seven days, followed by seven days of self-health management.
The “7+n” isolation rule would further be shortened to “5+n” on Monday next week, the CECC said.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
Starting today, close contacts who live with a confirmed case no longer need to isolate at home, regardless of vaccination status, the center said, but they would still need to practice the “0+7” rule — seven days of self-disease prevention.
Previously, close contacts who had not received three doses and lived with a confirmed case were required to practice the “3+4” isolation rule — three days of isolation, followed by four days of self-disease prevention — while those who had received a booster could follow the “0+7” rule.
During seven days of self-disease prevention, close contacts should stay in a separate bedroom with an en suite bathroom, leave the residence only if they have a negative rapid test result obtained within the previous two days, and avoid visiting hospitalized patients and long-term care facilities.
Also from today, body temperature measurement is no longer required at businesses and public facilities, except healthcare facilities and long-term care facilities.
People going to gyms, entering entertainment venues, attending religious events, or joining group tours are no longer required to have received three doses.
As of Tuesday, the CECC had issued 5.6 million home isolation orders and as of Oct. 13, it had imposed 1.91 million home quarantine orders, center data showed.
There were 2,414 reported cases of people breaching home isolation or home quarantine rules. They were fined a total of NT$340 million (US$10.56 million), including 20 cases that were fined NT$1 million each.
Meanwhile, as many people are waiting for the mask mandate to be lifted, experts yesterday suggested that the mandate be lifted starting from outdoor settings before moving to indoor venues, and from low-risk venues to high-risk ones.
Hospitals and care facilities should be the last to remove the requirement, and total removal of the mask mandate should come after COVID-19 is downgraded from a category 5 notifiable communicable disease to category 4, the experts said.
However, if the mandate is lifted for outdoor settings, that could lead to an increased risk of contagion at large gatherings, so the requirement should still be implemented for outdoor events where people cannot keep a safe distance with strangers, such as New Year’s Eve countdown events, they said.
If the number of new cases rise while the restriction is being eased, the CECC would likely advise people to enhance personal preventive measures, instead of reintroducing compulsory rules, they said.
Taiwan yesterday reported 24,355 new COVID- 19 infections, all but 46 of which were domestically transmitted, and 47 deaths from the disease.
The 24,355 new cases represented a 22.8 percent drop from a week earlier, the CECC said.
Additional reporting by Lin Hui-chin and CNA
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