People in mandatory home isolation or quarantine are allowed to apply for compassionate leave under specific conditions, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, when it also reported a new confirmed case of COVID-19.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that it has slightly loosened isolation regulations on humanitarian grounds and because of the state of the disease in Taiwan.
“People who are under home isolation or quarantine, but must attend a family member’s funeral or visit a family member who is terminally ill, would be allowed to leave their quarantine location under strict conditions,” he said.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo / EPA-EFE
Chen said that family members are limited to contact with first or second-degree relatives, and the person under isolation or quarantine must apply to the local health department after five days of isolation or quarantine, and they must not have symptoms of COVID-19.
The applicant must also receive approval from the hospital where they intend to visit a patient before the local health department would arrange for them to be tested for COVID-19 at a designated hospital at their own expense, he said.
There are 18 designated hospitals that provide COVID-19 testing with out-of-pocket expenses, and the cost is set by local governments, he said.
A health department may grant an applicant one hour of compassionate leave from isolation or quarantine two days after the applicant has tested negative for the virus, Chen said, adding that the person must wear a mask, perform social distancing and is not allowed to take public transportation.
In other news, Chen said that another crew member of the navy supply ship Panshih has tested positive for COVID-19.
The ship was part of a “Friendship Flotilla” that visited Palau from March 12 to 15 before returning to Zuoying Naval Base in Kaohsiung on April 9.
After three crew members from the ship tested positive on April 18, all 744 people on the three vessels that made up the flotilla were recalled for quarantine and testing.
The new case is a man in his 20s who tested negative on April 18, but was later shown to have coronavirus antibodies and was tested again on Friday, with the results yesterday afternoon showing that he had COVID-19, Chen said.
Thirty-one cases have been reported among the crew of the Panshih, he said, adding that 1,865 people who have had contact with them have been identified and 534 have been placed under home isolation, while 1,331 have been asked to perform self-health management.
The Taiwan Railways Administration yesterday said that one of its conductors, who was at a sports center on April 16 at the same time as a Panshih crew member who later tested positive for COVID-19, tested negative in the conductor’s first test on Wednesday.
The CECC later said that the conductor tested negative again in a second test.
At the CECC’s daily news conference, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that the conductor had reported coughing on April 8, so it was unclear whether their symptoms of fever and pulmonary infiltration were caused by COVID-19.
Separately yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that 28 Taiwanese in Palau who had contact with military personnel from the flotilla have tested negative for the virus.
The ministry on Tuesday said that 24 Taiwanese workers in the nation’s embassy and technical mission in Palau, as well as 24 Palauans who hosted the sailors, had tested negative for the virus.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan
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