Taiwan from today welcomes transit passengers to switch planes at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on their way to a third country. The country banned transit passengers on May 19, 2021
The mandatory quarantine for all arrivals has been reduced to three days with a plan to lower it to none from September.
Except from the Taiwan News:
On Saturday (June 11), Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) announced that Taiwan will be shortening its mandatory quarantine for arriving passengers from the current “7+7” plan to a “3+4” formula starting on Wednesday (June 15). However, one of the caveats listed by Chen was that starting on that date, the number of passengers allowed to enter the country per week will be limited to 25,000.
On Monday (June 13), UDN cited a government official familiar with the matter as saying many of Taiwan’s diplomatic personnel stationed overseas have complained that Taiwan’s quarantine policy is too strict. According to the source, if the three-day quarantine goes smoothly, the CECC is expected to evaluate whether the quarantine formula can be changed to “0+7” after two infection cycles of 14 days each, roughly one month.
And from Taipei Times:
Starting today, travelers can transit through the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport before flying to a third country, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said this week, after the transit service had been suspended for more than one year.
The airport operator resumed the service after the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Saturday further eased border control measures that were imposed to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusion
Allowing transit passengers to switch planes in Taipei helps with connectivity within Asia.
There won’t be tourists entering Taiwan with a three-day quarantine, but it may be lowered to zero by the early fall.
Taiwan had a very reasonable approach to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. I am not sure what went wrong along the way that has forced them to keep the border closed and/or with extended quarantine compared to most other countries in Asia, excluding China and Japan?
