Health officials have already made preparations for a China Airlines (中華航空) flight that is bringing 120 passengers to Taiwan from the UK today, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.
The number of flights from the UK has been halved and extra quarantine measures were put in place since Wednesday, in response to a new strand of SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — that has been spreading in the UK, the Central Epidemic Command Center said yesterday.
Today’s flight from London, which is to arrive at 6:15pm, is the first from the UK to arrive since the new measures were put in place, the center said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Flight personnel would be required to quarantine at home for 14 days, and all passengers would be required to undergo testing, and be quarantined at a centralized facility for 14 days, Chen said, adding that they would be required to report any health abnormalities to officials after being released from quarantine.
Anyone who has recently traveled to the UK would be subject to the same regulations, he added. Over the past few days, 26 people who have recently been to the UK were placed in a quarantine facility, he said.
Chen said that the center had initially planned to test only those showing symptoms, but revised its plans in light of the number of positive cases that showed no symptoms, as well as the relative lack of information about the new strain of the virus.
Asked how the center would handle the approximately 4,000 students expected to return from the UK for the Lunar New Year holiday, Chen said that they would be subject to the same measures.
“What we know about the new virus strain is that while it is more transmissible, infections caused by it are not more serious,” he said, adding that centralized quarantine is required for passengers from the UK to prevent transmission to people who live in the same home as them.
“If someone got infected at home and then the virus spreads into the community, I’m afraid that may cause a community outbreak,” he said.
Asked by reporters whether there are sufficient centralized facilities to accommodate an influx of people returning home for the Lunar New Year, Chen said there are 3,200 beds at 29 facilities, and that six more facilities would begin operations next month.
Meanwhile, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (桃園國際機場) said that passengers arriving on flights from the UK would be directed to an unused terminal lounge after leaving their aircraft, and prevented from entering the arrivals hall.
Six designated shuttle busses would take them from the airport to the quarantine facility, it said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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