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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Chinese arrivals tested for virus in new program
A worker assists a traveler arriving from China on Xiamen Airlines Flight MF887 with the mandatory COVID-19 testing procedures at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday. Photo: CNA
HOLIDAY PEAK: A potential new wave of cases driven by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 could peak in the week after the Lunar New Year holiday, the CECC said
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
Healthcare workers yesterday tested about 500 arrivals from China for COVID-19, on the first day of a temporary testing program, the Central Epidemic Command Center （CECC） said, as it reported a total of 25,386 new cases and forecast that the peak of the latest wave of infections could reach 40,000 cases per day.
Taiwan imposed the testing program on all arrivals from China following a surge in infections in the country after Beijing eased most of its strict COVID-19 policies.
China on Monday last week announced that it would reopen its border on Jan. 8, dropping compulsory quarantine requirements for international arrivals and lifting restrictions on the number of international flights permitted and passenger capacity.
In addition to a surge in cases, global health officials have said they are worried about a lack of transparency from Beijing, including on case numbers and genome sequencing data.
The testing program runs through Jan. 31, when many Taiwanese in China are expected to return for the Lunar New Year holiday.
On the first day of the program, more than 500 passengers on seven flights from China underwent a polymerase chain reaction saliva test upon arrival, said Centers for Disease Control （CDC） Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang （莊人祥）, who is the CECC’s spokesman.
It took healthcare workers about 30 minutes to test one flight of about 84 passengers, and those results should come back today, he said.
All arrivals are required to practice seven days of self-disease prevention, which requires them to test negative with an at-home rapid test every two days before going out and also when experiencing symptoms.
Japan on Friday began testing all passengers arriving from China or who had visited China in the past seven days.
The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on Saturday said that among 92 people who tested positive for COVID-19 at four airports on Friday, 90 had visited China in the past seven days, while 77 of them had no symptoms.
Regarding the possibility of additional entry restrictions should Taiwan’s testing show a similarly high rate of positive results among arrivals from China, Chuang said that the majority of arrivals are Taiwanese or residents of Taiwan, so additional restrictions would not be imposed on them.
The CECC reported 25,270 new local cases, 116 imported cases and 20 deaths yesterday.
New local infections increased by 7,620, or about 43 percent, from Sunday last week, while the total number of weekly new cases （between Sunday last week and Saturday） was 172,497, also an increase of 42.8 percent, compared with 120,760 cases the week before.
The CECC previously forecast that a new wave of infections from the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 could peak between late this month and early next month.
Chuang said that based on the rapid increase in cases, the center believes that the peak might now occur in the week after the Lunar New Year holiday, from Jan. 28, and that the daily caseload could reach about 40,000 during that period.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
