International travelers should be able to take polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests as soon as they arrive at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, as it would more effectively curb community outbreaks of COVID-19, such as the nation’s first cluster involving the highly infectious Delta variant in Pingtung County, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said yesterday.
The first two confirmed cases in the cluster — a woman in her 50s and her five-year-old grandson — returned from a trip to Peru on June 6.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control had said that the Delta variant, which first emerged in India, is 40 to 60 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which was first detected in the UK. More than 70 percent of new COVID-19 cases in the UK and Israel involve the Delta variant.
Photo: CNA
From 12am on Sunday, people arriving at Taiwan’s airports or seaports who have departed from or transited through Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Israel, Peru or the UK are required to quarantine for 14 days, Cheng said at Taoyuan’s morning briefing on COVID-19.
They are also required to take two PCR tests during quarantine, he said.
Quarantine for inbound travelers is an important measure to prevent community transmission of the Delta variant, he said, adding that airport quarantine systems should be changed in light of the latest COVID-19 developments.
Photo: CNA
“If requiring tourists from high-risk countries to undergo two PCR tests is the government policy ... there should be an express service at international airports for them to take PCR tests,” he said.
“There are government-certified laboratory instruments that can analyze DNA samples within 30 minutes. As the government has tightened quarantine measures for international tourists, [measures] at international airports should be changed accordingly,” he added.
As travelers could test positive for COVID-19 after they arrive in Taiwan, the method of transporting people from airports to government quarantine facilities or to quarantine hotels should be also be changed, Cheng said.
The government should be able to conduct contact tracing based on the information provided by travelers, whether they are taking disease prevention taxis, buses or rental vehicles to quarantine facilities or hotels, Cheng said.
“We will help Taoyuan International Airport Corp to make sure that airport workers are vaccinated, equipped with protective gear and follow a set of standardized disease prevention measures,” he said.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is deputy head of the Central Epidemic Command Center, said that so far 11 travelers have arrived from high-risk countries since the arrival regulations changed on Sunday: three from India, three from Israel, two from the UK, two from Brazil and one from Indonesia.
Air passengers must take disease prevention taxis or buses to quarantine facilities or hotels, and may not be picked up by family members, Chen said.
However, travelers who park their vehicles at airports are allowed to drive them to quarantine hotels, and are able to transport those going to the same hotels as them, Chen said.
If they are to stay in a quarantine facility run by the government, they would still need to take a disease prevention taxi, as the facilities do not have parking spaces for private vehicles, he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS