Taiwan extends Level 2 alert, keeps Lunar New Year quarantine rules
ROC Central News Agency
02/07/2022 06:04 PM
Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) The current Level 2 COVID-19 alert and eased quarantine rules for travelers returning to Taiwan for the Lunar New Year holiday will remain in place until the end of February, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Monday.
The Level 2 alert, which was set to expire Monday, will be extended for three weeks until Feb. 28, Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said at a CECC press briefing.
Taiwan first raised the COVID-19 alert to Level 2, the third-highest level on the CECC's four-tier scale, on May 11, 2021, after it began seeing domestic cases with unknown sources.
The alert level was raised to Level 3 on May 19 following a surge in domestically transmitted cases to more than 100 a day, but it was lowered back to Level 2 on July 27 after a month of reporting fewer than 100 domestic cases per day.
Some Level 3 rules, such as the requirement to wear a face mask when outside one's home, have been maintained under the Level 2 guidelines.
The figures do not include four cases reclassified as domestic in early January, nor retroactively removed cases. As of Feb. 7, Taiwan recorded 602 domestic and 1,561 imported COVID-19 cases in 2022.
Currently, people are only exempted from wearing a mask when they are eating or participating in water-related activities, or if they are in outdoor spaces with very few people, such as in forests or fields.
Also on Monday, Chen announced that loosened quarantine options initially introduced on Dec. 14 for people returning to Taiwan for the Lunar New Year holiday will remain in place until Feb. 28.
The policy, which includes the two looser "10+4" and "7+7" quarantine plans, was originally scheduled to end on Feb. 14.
Under the plans, arrivals spend the first seven or 10 days of their mandatory 14-day quarantine at a hotel or government facility, before finishing the remaining time at their own residence, provided that they and people they live with meet certain vaccination requirements.
Travelers to Taiwan can also choose to spend the entire 14-day quarantine at designated hotels.
1. More doses of the Moderna vaccine have been administered in Taiwan than the government has officially received because recipients of the Moderna booster shot are given half the standard dose of the first and second jab. 2. Information about the booster dose and additional dose can be found at https://t.ly/4ZuW
When asked whether the CECC was considering allowing tourists to visit Taiwan, Chen said that when adjustments to border policies are made, the first group to be allowed in would likely be business travelers, and the earliest that could happen is in March, Chen said.
Taiwan has banned the entry of all foreign nationals without residency, with few exceptions, since May 19, 2021, following an unprecedented spike in domestic COVID-19 cases in Taiwan.
(By Chiang Yi-ching)
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