《TAIPEI TIMES》‘Overseas case’ policy announced

SEVEN-DAY WAIT: A health official said that because imported cases of COVID-19 are rising, those who test positive while they are abroad should delay their return

Staff writer, with CNA

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Taiwanese and people with residency who test positive for COVID-19 while overseas should remain abroad for seven days before returning to Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center （CECC） said yesterday.

The comments came ahead of the introduction of new rules beginning on Thursday that would allow transiting passengers and arrivals with a Republic of China passport or an Alien Resident Certificate to no longer require a negative polymerase chain reaction test conducted within 48 hours of departure.

Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang （莊人祥）, the CECC’s spokesman, told a news conference that because imported cases of COVID-19 are rising, those who test positive while abroad should delay their return to Taiwan by a week.

Concern over imported cases has also been heightened by the CECC’s announcement on Thursday that Taiwan’s 25,000-per-week cap on arrivals had been increased to 40,000 with immediate effect.

Amid calls from the tourism industry to relax the “one person per residence” and four-day “self-initiated epidemic prevention” rules, Chuang said that those policies would remain unchanged for the next two or three weeks while the CECC assesses the effects of the new weekly cap.

Addressing former vice president Chen Chien-jen’s （陳建仁） comments yesterday that achieving COVID-19 vaccine booster coverage of 75 percent would be key to Taiwan opening its borders, Chuang said that the nation’s third-dose coverage was 70.5 percent.

With the US set to rule on whether to grant emergency use authorization to the next generation of Moderna vaccines at the end of September or in early October, Taiwan might be able to procure the new vaccines as early as October, Chuang added.

Taiwan yesterday reported 30,314 new local COVID-19 cases and 131 deaths from the disease, CECC data showed.

Those who died were aged in their 20s to their 90s, the data showed.

Fifty-two of those who died were unvaccinated against COVID-19, while 127 had chronic illnesses or other severe diseases, the data showed.

Among the new severe cases is a girl under the age of 10 who was diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children （MIS-C）, the CECC said, adding that she had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

New Taipei City yesterday recorded the highest number of local cases with 4,640, followed by Taichung with 3,851 and Kaohsiung with 3,291.

Taoyuan reported 3,236 new cases, Taipei 2,838, Tainan 2,419, Changhua County 1,688, Pingtung County 1,191, Yunlin County 881, Miaoli County 838 and Hsinchu County 742.

Yilan County recorded 691 new cases, Nantou County 664, Hsinchu City 642, Chiayi County 590, Hualien County 562, Keelung 436, Taitung County 376, Chiayi City 343, Penghu County 194, Kinmen County 180 and Lienchiang County 21.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES