Regular mandatory COVID-19 testing at residential care facilities is to be extended until the end of the year, but the frequency of tests would be lowered, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
The center also announced that the next round of free COVID-19 rapid test kits for older people and young children would begin on Thursday next week.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said the COVID-19 test positivity rates at residential long-term care facilities and community care facilities have declined to 0.5 percent for residents and 0.4 percent for workers, the lowest since late June.
The frequency of mandatory rapid tests for residents would from Monday be reduced from twice a week to once a week, while workers, currently tested once a week, would only need to take a test when they have symptoms, Lo said.
“Aside from having suspected symptoms, if workers at the facilities have been exposed to high infection risks, the facility can also provide them with free government-funded test kits,” Lo said. “Hopefully, infected people can be diagnosed as quickly as possible.”
Other disease prevention rules at the facilities would remain the same, including weekly testing of residents with mental or physical disabilities, people with dementia, and people aged two to 18, he said.
Children younger than two who show symptoms of the disease would be given polymerase chain reaction tests, Lo added.
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the center, announced that the eighth round of the real-name based rationing scheme for rapid test kits, as well as the scheme providing free test kits for older people and young children, would begin on Thursday next week, with the rules staying the same as in previous rounds.
Holders of National Health Insurance (NHI) cards or residence permits can purchase up to six packs containing five kits each at NHI-contracted pharmacies, Wang said.
People can purchase kits on behalf of others, but would have to bring their documents, he said.
People born in or before 1957 and children born on or after Sept. 2, 2016, would be eligible for one free pack of five test kits each, the CECC said.
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