From Dec. 1, the cap on inbound travelers is to be raised to 200,000 people per week, as the number of international arrivals is expected to increase during the winter holidays, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday.
“We have seen significant growth in outbound and inbound travelers since the government on Oct. 13 lifted the quarantine requirement for inbound travelers and increased the cap on international arrivals to 150,000,” said Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the center. “Last week, the number of international arrivals rose 12 percent to 92,000, while the number of outbound travelers jumped 13 percent to 78,000.”
“Considering that Taiwan and other countries have been steadily opening borders, and the Christmas, New Year and Lunar New Year holidays are coming soon, more people are expected to travel overseas and return to the country. Therefore, we have decided to raise the number of international arrivals allowed each week to help people make travel arrangements,” Wang said.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
Wang made the announcement after Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) earlier yesterday morning held an interdepartmental meeting on the COVID-19 pandemic, during which he said that with the holidays arriving, the center should monitor changes in the number of outbound and inbound travelers, and adjust disease prevention measures accordingly so that people can plan their trips.
Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) quoted Su as saying during the meeting that he public is now aware of the importance of disease prevention due to the center’s guidance over the past three years.
The isolation period for COVID-19 cases was yesterday reduced from seven to five days, and the three-shot vaccine requirement for workers in several high-risk fields was lifted.
Under the new isolation policy, known as “5+n,” those with COVID-19 must quarantine for five days, after which they can resume their normal activities if they test negative for the virus.
People who test positive after five days are not required to quarantine, but must follow self-health management rules until they test negative, for a maximum of seven days, the center said.
The regulation requiring workers in 24 high-risk fields to receive at least three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine originally applied to teachers, workers in correctional facilities and funeral homes, and people in categories 1, 2, 3 and 7 of the government’s COVID-19 vaccine priority list, which included health and epidemic prevention workers, airport staff and soldiers.
Taiwan yesterday reported 16,619 new COVID-19 cases, including 41 imported ones, as well as 40 deaths from the disease.
The 16,578 new domestic cases represented a weekly increase of 0.2 percent, the center said.
CECC officials have said that they expect to start lifting the outdoor mask mandate later this month, starting with outdoor settings.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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