Taiwan will give five free rapid tests each to children aged 6 and under. Premier Su Tseng-chang announced the plan on Friday during a tour of pharmacies in New Taipei City.
Starting June 1, parents will be able to use their child’s health insurance card to collect the free tests at pharmacies across the country.
Children with card numbers ending in an odd number can collect the tests on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. For even numbers — Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Anyone can go on a Sunday.
The scheme will finish at the end of June.
The announcement of free tests for children comes just a day after Su said the government would give free tests to low-income households and people living in care homes.
Taiwan is placing more emphasis on rapid tests as a way of diagnosing COVID-19 to save medical resources. Right now, official figures show more than 80,000 people a day catching the virus, and the sheer number of infections is stretching Taiwan’s capacity to carry out PCR tests.
A number of countries already count a positive rapid test result as confirmation that a person has COVID, with no need for PCR test. Those countries include the UK and New Zealand, among others.