People from Taiwan can soon visit Guam without being quarantined

ROC Central News Agency

07/17/2020 08:26 PM

Taipei, July 17 (CNA) Short-stay travelers from Taiwan to Guam will no longer need to receive a COVID-19 test and self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival beginning July 24, the Taiwan representative of the Guam Visitors Bureau said Friday.

Guam issued the new quarantine protocol Friday ahead of easing restrictions to Pandemic Condition of Readiness 3 on July 20. The protocol will allow visitors from COVID-19 low-risk areas to stay in Guam for up to five days without a quarantine or testing required.

Taiwan will be listed among the low-risk areas, said Sandra Huang (黃芷筠), a public relations agent for the bureau in Taiwan, but it was not immediately clear what other countries will be on that list.

Guam had originally planned to reopen to Taiwanese, Japanese, and South Koreans on July 1 without a quarantine, but that was postponed in late June because of a spike in local cases.

Even under the new protocol, travelers in Guam will be required to monitor their symptoms for the duration of their stay.

At present, all travelers to Guam need a pre-arrival negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to determine where they are to be quarantined and if they qualify for an abbreviated stay in isolation.

If travelers test negative within 72 hours of departing for Guam, they can self-quarantine at home. Otherwise they have to be quarantined at a government facility, according to reports.

According to Guam health authorities, there have been a total of 314 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with five deaths, 222 released from isolation, and 87 active cases as of Friday. Of those cases, 267 are classified as civilians and 47 are military service members.

(By Lee Hsin-Yin)

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