Taiwan to cut hotel quarantine for Lunar New Year

TAIPEI, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan will reduce mandatory quarantine in epidemic prevention hotels to ten days from the current 14 days for the Lunar New Year holiday, said the island's disease monitoring agency.

The relaxed rules will apply to arrivals from non-high-risk regions from Dec. 14, 2021, to Feb. 14, 2022, said the agency on Monday.

Under the new regulations, only ten days of the quarantine will have to be spent in a designated COVID-19 quarantine hotel or concentrated quarantine facility. The other four days can be spent at a residence in Taiwan.

At present, all 14 days in quarantine must be spent in designated hotels or concentrated quarantine facilities.

Travelers who have been to or transited through key high-risk regions in the two weeks before entering Taiwan will still have to quarantine at a concentrated quarantine facility for 14 days.

Taiwan decided to adjust the rules amid concerns of a large influx of people for the Chinese New Year holiday starting late January. It could strain the availability of rooms in quarantine hotels, the agency said.

The relaxed quarantine requirements also came after the COVID-19 epidemic has eased on the island, and vaccination rates have risen in many countries, it added.