With more than 10,000 people in home quarantine due to COVID-19, the Taipei City Government yesterday urged the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) to centralize quarantine measures or require mandatory stays in quarantine hotels for Taiwanese returning home.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said the city is making the call because it has the highest number of confirmed cases in the nation — at more than 100 — most of which were family cross-infections.
For example, case No. 365, announced yesterday, is the four-year-old grandchild of case No. 356, who was infected by case No. 343, her spouse, who returned from the US and was symptom-free when he began home quarantine, but tested positive on Friday, Huang said.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Department of Information and Tourism
People under home quarantine could still pass the virus to family members, who could pass it on to coworkers or classmates, making the potential social costs extremely high, she said.
Cross-infections remain Taiwan’s major source of domestic COVID-19 transmissions, Huang said, urging Taipei residents who return from overseas to contact the city government, which would help them arrange stays in quarantine hotels.
The CECC provides a subsidy of NT$1,000 per day for home quarantine, and another NT$1,000 if they stay in a quarantine hotel.
The city government yesterday also opened an online application for a city subsidy of NT$500, she said.
Taipei residents who stay in a quarantine hotel during the mandatory quarantine period can there fore receive a total subsidy of at least NT$2,500 per day, she said.
As the city’s subsidy policy was announced on March 19, people who are under quarantine on or after the date can apply for the subsidy within six months from the end of their quarantine period, Taipei Department of Information and Tourism Commissioner Liu Yi-ting (劉奕霆) said.
The amount of subsidy will be proportionally calculated according to how long the person’s quarantine period overlaps with the date, with the maximum being NT$7,000 for 14 days, Liu added.
Meanwhile, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) on Sunday renewed his call to have all travelers entering the nation tested for the virus, as imported cases account for 86 percent of the total number of cases, 4.6 percent of whom are asymptomatic.
By conducting tests on every incoming traveler and centralizing quarantine, instead of self-quarantine at home, Taiwan might be able to “block the virus 100 percent off the national borders,” he said, adding that the earlier, the better.
Additional reporting by Chen Hsin-yu
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final