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Taiwan eases more restrictions on mask wearing

ROC Central News Agency

10/29/2021 06:28 PM

Taipei, Oct. 29 (CNA) The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Friday further eased mask-wearing requirements imposed to combat COVID-19, but with certain preconditions.

Television talk show commentators, program show hosts, lecturers at schools, and people delivering speeches at events will no longer have to wear masks if social distancing is observed or plastic dividers are available, Deputy Interior Minister Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥) said during a CECC daily briefing.

Taiwan started to relax its mask requirements on Oct. 5 when TV news anchors no longer had to wear a mask when broadcasting on the air as long as they could remain socially distanced from other staff.

The CECC also announced Thursday that people will be able to remove their masks to eat or drink on trains, buses, boats and domestic flights, as well as in movie theaters, karaoke outlets, MTV outlets and internet cafes starting Nov. 2.

Aside from the easing of mask requirements, some entertainment venues, such as nightclubs, disco halls, pubs, hostess clubs and massage parlors, without hosts or hostesses, will be conditionally allowed to resume services, also beginning Nov. 2.

But despite the easing of those restrictions, Chen, who doubles as the deputy head of the CECC, said temperature check and identification requirements at the entrances of venues will remain in place.

On whether food sampling at venues such as malls, department stores and night markets will be allowed, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) said the CECC has backed the idea, but the final decision will be made by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Border controls

Border controls imposed to keep COVID-19 at bay are another area where restrictions could be eased, especially to allow in migrant workers to address Taiwan's ongoing labor shortage.

Chen said the CECC is still mulling the idea, and discussions among several agencies are underway.

Taiwan suspended entry of Indonesian migrant workers into the country in December 2020 in response to a spike in COVID-19 cases imported from the Southeast Asian country.

It then barred all new migrant workers entering Taiwan starting on May 19, 2021, due to an unprecedented spike in COVID-19 cases domestically.

(By Chang Ming-hsuan, Chiang Hui-chun and Ko Lin)

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