TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Under Taiwan's new "3+4" quarantine scheme, only 25,000 passengers will be allowed to enter the country per week.

On Saturday (June 11), Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) announced that Taiwan will be shortening its mandatory quarantine for arriving passengers from the current "7+7" plan to a "3+4" formula starting on Wednesday (June 15). This means mandatory quarantine will be shortened from seven days plus seven days of self-health management to three days of quarantine and four days of self-initiated epidemic prevention.

However, one of the caveats listed by Chen was the number of passengers allowed to enter the country per week will be limited to 25,000.

At a press conference on Monday (June 13), media asked if the increase in the number of people flying to Taiwan will cause a bottleneck, what the considerations were behind setting the 25,000 cap, and whether Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) will be rationing how many seats each airline can sell each day. CECC Deputy Head Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥) pointed out that Taiwan is not the first country to set a ceiling on the number of passengers allowed per day, with Australia having implemented such a policy for more than two years.

As for the 25,000 quota, Chen said that firstly, the recent average number of inbound passengers landing in Taiwan per week is currently 18,000, and 25,000 is what they estimate the number to increase to in the short term. Secondly, Chen said that the CECC takes into account the amount of resources required to implement the on-arrival COVID saliva tests, and is conducting comprehensive talks to ensure the capacity of the domestic medical system.

Chen also said that the CAA will be asked to coordinate the allocation of seats to airlines. If the number of inbound travelers increases significantly each week, Chen said that the CECC will assess the situation with the pandemic and discuss making more adjustments to the passenger quota.

Regarding accommodation under the "3+4" scheme, Chen recommended that travelers stay in the same epidemic prevention hotel or residences where they can implement the one person per household principle for the entire seven-day period. If travelers need to venture out for work or other reasons during the four-day self-initiated epidemic prevention period, Chen recommends that they take a rapid antigen test every two days and make sure the result is negative before stepping out.

source:

By Keoni Everington

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