A potential plan to shorten quarantine length for arrivals to Taiwan from 14 to 10 days will depend on the overall COVID-19 pandemic situation and the booster shot vaccination rate in Taiwan, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (???) said Thursday.

Chen had mentioned earlier this week that the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) is considering shortening the length of quarantine required for people arriving in Taiwan from 14 to 10 days, with the earliest the change could happen being March.

When asked whether the five COVID-19 clusters of unknown origin reported since Tuesday, involving 35 individuals in total, would affect the plan, Chen said that unless there is a huge change in the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the plan will be implemented as scheduled.

The percentage of people who have been vaccinated, especially the rate of booster shots, will also be taken into consideration, Chen said.

When asked if he meant that quarantine length will only be reduced when booster shot rate in Taiwan reaches 50 percent, which Chen had previously stated was a goal the CECC hoped to reach in early March, he replied: “Yes. We at least need to be heading in this direction.”

To date, 82.02 percent of Taiwan’s population of 23.35 million has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 75.19 percent have gotten at least two doses, and 25.89 have received a booster shot.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel