The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Friday that fully vaccinated people who choose its 7+7 quarantine option on arrival in Taiwan will not have to pay for the required COVID-19 rapid tests.

The 7+7 quarantine plan, one of two new options put forth by the CECC for arriving travelers during the Lunar New Year period, will allow them to spend the first half of their 14-day quarantine period at a government facility or designated hotel.

They will have to take a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on arrival and on the sixth day, after which they will be allowed to quarantine at home for another seven days, if they they test negative, according to the CECC.

While in home quarantine, the travelers will be required to take a rapid test on the 10th day after their arrival, followed by one more PCR tests on the 13th or last day of the two-week quarantine period, the CECC said.

Those with negative results on all tests would then be asked to practice enhanced self-health management for another seven days.

That quarantine option was designed for people fully inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine approved by either the World Health Organization or Taiwan’s health authorities, and it is aimed at easing the accommodation situation in the country ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday Jan. 29-Feb. 6, the CECC said.

Currently, Taiwan has only 26,000 quarantine rooms, while some 40,000 people are expected to arrive for the holiday, according to the CECC.

Initially, the CECC had said that rapid tests would be self-paid and would be required on the 10th day of the 7+7 quarantine plan.

At a CECC press conference on Friday, however, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (???) said the government will bear the costs of the rapid tests, to ensure the safety of returning travelers and their families.

The CECC hopes to guarantee that those in quarantine would be in a sealed off environment, and it would like to avoid having to test family members because of contact with those in quarantine, he said.

The other quarantine option offered by the CECC is a 10+4 plan, under which arriving travelers will be allowed to spend the final four days of quarantine in either an individual residence, or in a shared residence with fully vaccinated individuals, once the traveler has their own room with an en suite bathroom.

Under that plan, the person in quarantine will require a negative PCR test on either the ninth or 10th day of their quarantine, and one day before they complete their quarantine period, before they can be allowed out of their room, but must isolate at home for another four days, according to the CECC.

The “10+4” policy does not require travelers to be fully vaccinated for at least two weeks, but that they spend the last four days of quarantine in a residence where other residents have been fully vaccinated for at least two weeks.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel