TAIPEI (TVBS News) — As Taiwan gradually starts to open its borders, many have expressed concerns at the changes in the epidemic-prevention regulations, arguing that they won’t do much to stop the virus from spreading. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) recently announced that starting on Thursday (Sept. 29), the quarantine period for arriving passengers will remain at “3+4,” but there won't be any saliva-based PCR tests at the airport anymore.
Instead, four rapid tests will be provided to the travelers. Thanks to the lifting of restrictions, the CECC plans to increase the weekly cap of travelers to 60,000 per week. Starting on October 13, the quarantine period will be shortened to “0+7.”
As the 4 rapid tests will still be issued to travelers, the CECC hopes to allow up to 150,000 arrivals a week by mid-October. However, with 150,000 arrivals and 4 rapid tests per arrival, times NT＄100 per rapid test, some are worried that the NT＄60 million costs may not be worth the trouble as travelers won’t need to upload their test results, making confirmed patients harder to track.
To this, CECC Head Wang Pi-sheng remarked that even though “this amount calculated here will appear to be a lot, [...] the fact is that providing rapid tests costs much less than saliva-based PCR tests.” As Taiwan aims to co-exist with the virus, experts point out the implications that the government will treat COVID-19 like the flu in the future.
“The rate of those with severe symptoms (COVID-19) is basically similar to our general rate,” said China Medical University Hospital physician Dr. Wang Jen-hsien. “So in principle, our medical institutions can definitely handle COVID-19 today.”
After more than 2 years of battling the pandemic head-on, Taiwan is gradually relaxing various measures to prepare for truly co-existing with the virus.
