Taiwan eyes mid-October end to COVID quarantine on road to re-opening

Taiwan eyes mid-October end to COVID quarantine on road to re-opening

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan aims to finish its mandatory COVID-19 quarantine for landings from around April. 13 and will ease other restrictions from next week as it is constantly on the re-open to the outside world, the government mentioned on Thursday.

Taiwan has kept some of its access and quarantine guidelines in place as huge parts of the rest of Asia have relaxed or lifted them completely, though in June it cut the amount of days required within isolation for landings to three through seven previously.

Taiwan has documented six million domestic cases since the beginning of the year, driven with the more infectious Omicron variant. With more than 99% of those showing simply no or only moderate symptoms, the government provides relaxed rather than tightened restrictions in its “new Taiwan model”.

Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng told reporters that from next Thursday visa-free admittance will be resumed regarding citizens of all nations that previously acquired that status. The government will also increase weekly arrival limits regarding international travellers simply by 10, 000 to 60, 000, he said, with no a lot more PCR tests to get arrivals.

In case “everything is below control”, the government is definitely aiming to end mandatory quarantine for all arrivals from around April. 13, with arrivals rising to a hundred and fifty, 000 a week, Lo said.

“This is the last distance in our fight against the particular pandemic, ” he said, speaking following a weekly Cabinet conference, adding the government is making all preparations needed to reopen the door to global tourists and to revive domestic businesses hit by previous COVID-related curbs.

Those who test positive, nevertheless , still need to quarantine at home or in designated hotels, the government said.

While Taiwan’s vaccination rate is high, the daily number of cases has been rising again, exceeding 46, 000 documented on Wednesday.

Throughout the pandemic Taiwanese citizens and international residents have not been prohibited from leaving behind and then re-entering, but have had to quarantine at home or within hotels for up to a couple weeks.

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

(Reporting by Yimou Lee and Bill Blanchard; Editing simply by Himani Sarkar and Kenneth Maxwell)