Taiwan Bans Entry By Non-Nationals As Daily Domestic COVID Cases Reach A New Record

 

#15,966

Until a few days ago, Taiwan was in the enviable position of reporting daily case totals (mostly) in the single digits for more than a year, with most of those being imported cases.  Even during their 1st wave in 2020, they kept COVID cases to just 122 over the week of March 15th-21st. 

Last week, the wheels appeared to fall off with the abrupt jump to 267 domestic cases in just one week, and while the above chart doesn't reflect it yet, this week's total has already exceeded that number in the first two days.  

Yesterday Taiwan reported 206 local cases, and today they added another 333. 

Two days ago the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) - Tsai Ing-wen - announced an increase to Level 3 of their pandemic response in Taipei and New Taipei:

And a couple of hours ago Taiwain's CECC announced - in view of the rising tide of international and domestic COVID vases -  new entry restrictions for non-nationals would be imposed for the next 30 days. 

From 0:00 on May 19, entry of non-nationals who do not hold a residence permit in my country will be suspended, and passengers will be suspended for transit in Taiwan

Release Date: 2021-05-17

 

The Central Epidemic Command Center stated today (17) that in view of the rising international and domestic COVID-19 epidemic, in order to maintain domestic epidemic prevention safety and ensure the health of Chinese people, China will strictly control the border from 0:00 on May 19 (local flight time). The measures are as follows:

 

(1) People of non-nationality who do not hold a valid residence permit in China will be suspended for entry. Except for those approved by the project for emergency or humanitarian considerations.

(2) Suspend passengers transiting to Taiwan.

The above-mentioned measures will end on June 18 and will be adjusted in due course according to the epidemic situation and implementation status. 

Today's latest daily reports shows 333 domestic cases, and just two imported cases.  Some of these cases have apparently been picked up by enhanced community testing, which was implemented when this spike began last week, and have onset dates that go back a week or longer. 

335 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed, 333 cases of domestic and 2 cases of overseas immigration

Release Date: 2021-05-17The Central Epidemic Command Center announced today (17) that there were 335 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in China, 333 local cases (Case 1684 to Case 2016) and 2 cases (Case 2017, Case 2018) imported from abroad.

According to the command center, the newly added 333 local cases today are 189 females and 144 males, aged between under 5 and over 90. The date of onset/collection is between May 5th today (2021). On May 16, the counties and cities of residence were 158 cases in Taipei City (89 cases in Wanhua District), 148 cases in New Taipei City (41 cases in Banqiao District), 10 cases in Taoyuan City, 6 cases in Keelung City, 5 cases in Changhua County, There were 2 cases each in Taichung City and Yilan County, and 1 case each in Hsinchu County and Miaoli County. Among them, there were 155 cases in Taipei Tea Art House, 86 cases related to Wanhua's activity history, 6 cases related to the Southern Fragrance Group, 5 cases related to a group gathering, 3 cases related to Yilan Recreation Center, 38 cases in the epidemic investigation, and the group is unknown. 40 cases. Related epidemic investigations are ongoing.

The command center pointed out that the two newly added cases of overseas immigration today are a Filipino male in his 30s and a female in his 20s who entered the Philippines and Haiti respectively. The entry dates are April 30 and May 16, both of which are valid. There is a negative test report within 3 days before the flight.

According to the statistics of the command center, up to now, a total of 245,801 new coronavirus pneumonia-related notifications (including 236,103 cases excluded) have been reported in China, of which 2,017 have been confirmed, 1,081 overseas immigration, 883 local cases, 36 Dunmu fleet, 2 aircraft infections, 1 case is unknown and 14 cases are under investigation. Of the confirmed cases, 12 died, 1,123 were released from isolation, and 882 were hospitalized in isolation.

The command center urges the public to implement personal protective measures such as hand hygiene, cough etiquette, and wearing masks to reduce unnecessary movement, activities or gatherings, avoid entering and exiting crowded places or areas with a high risk of infection transmission, and actively cooperate with various Anti-epidemic measures, together to strictly guard the community's line of defense.

Over the past 4 days Taiwan has detected more than 700 locally acquired COVID cases; more than 5 times as many as they had during the entire 16 opening months of the pandemic (n=135).  

While the exact cause of this rapid spread isn't known, these community cases appear to have begun in and around the Novotel hotel at Taoyuan International Airport.

Japanese media reports that in mid-April Taiwan reduced the quarantine period for unvaccinated pilots and flight crews from 5 days to 3, and removed the quarantine requirement for vaccinated crew members on Taiwanese airlines.

They further state that while the Novotel Hotel had designated one building as a quarantine facility, they has quartered some pilots and crew in a second building. 

But whether these are the primary causes of this outbreak, or there are other factors at work, isn't yet known. Unlike we are seeing in Singapore right now, Taiwan hasn't said much about the role of variants in their outbreak. 

While Taiwan's numbers remain relatively low given their population (23 million), a hundred-fold increase in domestic cases over what they were a month ago is concerning.