Taiwan to ease mask mandate in three stages starting as early as this month
Taiwan to ease mask mandate in three stages starting as early as this month
2022-11-09
The government relaxed four sets of COVID rules earlier this week. Now the strict mask mandate could soon be eased before the end of the month, according to the CECC. Health officials say they are currently considering relaxing face mask rules in three stages, starting with making them optional outdoors. Let’s hear from the head of CECC Victor Wang.
Victor Wang
CECC
Our overall direction is to separately consider outdoor and indoor spaces. But the definition of “outdoors” and the exceptions to the rules are still being discussed. Large events such as concerts, sports competitions or political rallies still gather large groups of people who can’t maintain a social distance. So whether a separate set of rules would apply to those situations is something we are considering. In the second stage, the rules would be eased for indoor spaces. But we’ll see how that goes. We’ve been looking at how other countries did it, whether they just listed out the places where masks must be worn. We’re thinking at that stage, masks should remain on in places like hospitals and long-term care centers, as well as public transportation, things like that, and perhaps also large indoor gatherings. In many countries they stopped making masks compulsory, and made it instead a suggestion. That could be our third stage. We can advise people on when to wear masks, but not make them mandatory.
Wang says no date has yet been set for the easing of rules, but he says an announcement will be made once all details are set.
口罩令11月底前鬆綁！初步規劃三階段上路
2022-11-09
疫情指揮中心指揮官王必勝週三指出，因疫情趨緩，將會逐漸調整口罩政策，目前鬆綁研擬分為三階段，這個月就會實施第一階段，來聽聽指揮官的說明。
[[疫情指揮中心指揮官 王必勝]]
“大方向是室外跟室內，但室外的定義，還有哪些例外的場合，我們現在正在討論當中。一些大型的，不管是演唱會、體育場所，或者是選舉造勢，這些都跟很多不特定對象不能保持社交距離，是不是要另訂規定，我們還在思考。至於第二階段，室內的部分，我們還要再看狀況。第二階段我們也是去看看別的國家，如果是正面表列是哪些場所要(戴)，我們初步想到像醫院、長照住宿中心、密閉的大眾交通運輸工具之類的，或大型室內集會。很多國家其實它已經不是用強制的，它最後都是用建議，那可能就是第三階段，我只建議你在什麼時候戴，但是沒有去強制。”
至於會在什麼時候實施，王必勝說，等細節討論好，就會盡快公告。
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