CECC eases COVID rules, including vaccine requirements and temperature checks

CECC eases COVID rules, including vaccine requirements and temperature checks

2022-11-07

The government has relaxed four sets of COVID rules starting today. Most noticeably, contacts of COVID patients are no longer required to isolate. And COVID patients can end their self-health management period as soon as they test negative in a rapid test. Temperature checks in public spaces are now a thing of the past, as well as vaccine requirements at certain events and venues.

During COVID, temperature checks were a must at train stations. Now, they are a thing of the past as the CECC loosens COVID measures.

With COVID becoming a milder disease, the CECC has removed mandatory isolation periods for contacts of COVID patients. Patients themselves must still isolate for seven days. After isolation is up, they can go out freely, but must not have meals with others or take public transport until they test negative in a rapid test. Isolation is set to be further reduced to five days starting next Monday. Also today, venues and events that previously required proof of three COVID shots, such as gyms and religious events, will no longer require it. Temperature checks in public spaces are no longer compulsory.

Member of public
Removing the temperature checks reduces the time it takes to get to work and hop on a train.

The gradual easing of isolation rules has left people wondering when the mask mandate will be lifted.

Chiang Kuan-yu
Taipei City Hospital
Cases of respiratory syncytial virus are on the rise. And there’s also the seasonal flu. Face masks aren’t just for COVID. All these respiratory diseases become more common at this time of the year. So masks could mitigate that somewhat.

The CECC recently stated it could discuss the easing of mask rules in November if COVID numbers continue going down. How measures will be relaxed has yet to be discussed by a panel of experts.

Lin Wei-wen
Taiwan Adventist Hospital
The mask mandate would be one of the last priorities. If we go straight to not wearing masks, that could cause COVID numbers to bounce back over the autumn and winter season. We could even see a new peak.

As temperatures get colder, people spend more time indoors. Experts say that a gradual approach to lifting the mask mandate is the way to go.

防疫大鬆綁今起"接觸者一律免居隔.3劑令取消"

2022-11-07

指揮中心今天(11/7)起放寬4大防疫措施，除了免量體溫，取消三劑令，現在確診者居家照護結束後，快篩陰就可以不用自主健康管理，連同住接觸者也不需要居家隔離。現在就剩下口罩令還沒解除，不過醫師認為，秋冬還在流感好發季節，也怕病毒又有新變異株，口罩先戴好，才能防堵病毒。

進到車站前，習慣先停一下，量個體溫。不過其實指揮中心已經宣布，11月7日起放寬4大防疫措施。

指揮中心評估輕症化等種種指標，決議讓所有接觸者0+7自由活動，但確診者隔離7天維持不變，自主健康管理期間可外出，不過禁止聚餐和搭乘大眾運輸，再隔一週居家照護又會縮短到5天，另外健身房和宗教活動等等場合的，限制3劑令才能參加的規定，也一併取消接下來，最後一項，進入公共場所不再強制量體溫。

[[民眾]]
“ (量溫度)拿掉來說，不會去耽誤人家上班、坐車時間”

居家隔離政策大幅度鬆綁，但是民眾還是很關心，口罩令何時可以解禁。

[[北市聯醫醫師姜冠宇]]
“我們現在面對比較大的呼吸道融合病毒盛行，以及流感，所以戴口罩不是為了只防治新冠，而是所有呼吸道傳染病都在這時候(流行)，可以稍微降低一下它的盛行幅度”

不過日前指揮中心曾表示，如果疫情持續下降，11月起就可以討論口罩令放寬，而實際施行方式，還得等專家討論。

[[台安醫院心臟內科醫師林謂文]]
“口罩的政策的確還是會擺在最後，一下連口罩都不用戴的話，有可能在秋冬季節造成一個疫情的反撲或是高峰出現”

秋冬時節，病毒盛行，室內人潮擁擠地方不適合輕易摘口罩，要真正擺脫口罩束縛，還得一步步來。

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I worked on this agreement since 2016, for four or five years. Of course, there were a lot of issues that arose, which we can’t talk to the public about. Over the course of six years I signed 12 different agreements. This is a guarantee of quality from Taiwan itself to Germany’s officials, and to the German public.

Unlike past agreements signed between private companies, the Taipei-Munich flight route was worked out between government officials from both sides.

In the past, there were only seven passenger flights weekly to Germany, which flew to Frankfurt and were operated by China Airlines. Now, in addition to the four new weekly passenger flights to Munich, the number of weekly cargo flights between the two countries will increase from three to five.

Shieh Jhy-wey
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This was all pre-planned when we signed the agreement. If there is a nonstop flow of passengers, and the flights don’t meet demand, then we could extend it to one flight daily.

There are 150,000 travelers annually going between Taiwan and Germany. One German tourism operator says there is a chance this number could go up in the future.

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There’s a great opportunity now for southern Germans to fly directly to Taipei, and if they are to come, I would suggest that you will have an increase of 10, 15, 20% per year.

With direct flights between Taiwan and Germany increasing, it is clear that bilateral relations between the two countries are improving.

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