Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre (CECC) announced yesterday that it will lift its ban on the entry of non-locals who do not have a residency permit for the island, while it will also permit non-local travellers to once again transit through Taipei’s airport starting next Monday, Taiwan News reported yesterday.
The report quoted CECC head Chen Shi-chung as saying at a press conference in Taipei yesterday that starting on March 1 non-locals who don’t have a Taiwan residency permit will again be allowed to enter Taiwan, with the notable exception of tourists and persons on “social visits”, while international air passengers will again be allowed to transit through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei.
The two measures cover foreign nationals as well as mainland, Hong Kong and Macau compatriots.
Airline passengers transferring from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to other destinations must take the same airline company’s flights, and their layovers are limited to fewer than eight hours, the report said.
Transfer passengers must stay in a designated seating area at the airport and follow a separate route when travelling through the airport than other passengers.
Besides, food services and shopping must be provided under the full supervision of dedicated staff, according to the report, which also said that there must also be contingency plans in place in the event of flight delays or an abnormality detected in a transit passenger’s state of health.
According to the report, the CECC underlined that in order to ensure continued epidemic prevention, all prospective visitors must provide a negative COVID-19 PCT certificate in English within three days before their flight to Taiwan. Once they arrive in Taiwan, they must still undergo 14 days of quarantine and make arrangements in advance to stay in officially approved quarantine accommodation.
Before the current transit ban, which will be lifted next Monday, a number of Macau residents had returned to Macau from overseas via transit flights in Taipei during the COVID-19 pandemic.
