Coronavirus: Taiwan to cut quarantine for arrivals to 3 days

Taiwan has kept its quarantine rules in place as large parts of the rest of Asia have relaxed or lifted them completely, but it said on Saturday that the mandatory quarantine for all arrivals would be cut from 7 days to 3 days.

This is the latest relaxation of the rules to try to live with COVID-19, even as Taiwan deals with a surge of infections. Previously it cut the mandatory number of days spent in quarantine from 10 days to 7 days in May.

Taiwan has reported more than 2.7 million domestic cases since the beginning of the year, driven by the more infectious Omicron variant. But with more than 99 per cent of the infected exhibiting no or mild symptoms, the government has relaxed rather than tightened restrictions in what it calls the “new Taiwan model”.

Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre said the new, reduced quarantine rule would start from Wednesday.

After leaving quarantine, people will need to continue to monitor their health for a further four days and avoid going out if possible, it added.

The move was made “considering the international and domestic epidemic situation and epidemic prevention and medical capacity, and to promote economic and social activities and necessary international exchanges”, according to the Centre.

All arrivals will still require pre-departure negative PCR tests.

The government says the current domestic COVID-19 wave is waning, but has yet to fully re-open its borders.

Taiwanese citizens and foreign residents have never been prohibited from leaving and then re-entering, but have been required to quarantine either at home or in hotels.

Before the pandemic, Taiwan was a popular tourist destination for mainly Asian visitors, with Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia the most important markets.

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