Taiwan to ease entry restrictions, cut quarantine to 10 days in March

Taiwan plans to relax its strict COVID-19 quarantine policy beginning in March, in order to reopen to the world and gradually resume normal life, the government said on Tuesday.

Since the start of the pandemic, Taiwan has enforced a blanket two-week quarantine on everyone arriving to the island, even while its neighbours in Asia began implementing reopening strategies last year, including easing entry restrictions.

So far Taiwan’s strict quarantine policy has succeeded in keeping reported covid cases below 20,000, the Taipei Times reported.

Its new plan follows similar moves by Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines to restore international travel and tourism across Southeast Asia.

• Read Tourism officials in Vietnam push for full reopening to foreign travellers on March 15
• Read Indonesia considers ditching all quarantine rules for international arrivals from April
• Read Philippines lifts travel ban, welcomes fully vaccinated tourists from 157 countries

The Central Epidemic Command Center said it plans to reduce the quarantine period from 14 days to 10 days before mid-March, and expressed confidence that its testing measures could detect infections within that period.

The government has said it wants 50 percent of the Taiwan’s 23.5 million people to receive a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine before easing entry requirements. The figure currently stands at about 30 percent and is rising.

Despite the optimistic outlook, it remains unlikely they Taiwan will end all quarantine measures completely before the summer holidays.

SOURCE: Taipei Times