Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command says arrivals to Taiwan have nearly doubled since last month. And that’s in the first three days since the quarantine requirement was lifted. The number of outbound travelers has also increased as many people are more eager to travel since quarantine has been canceled.
Despite the increase in travel, case numbers for COVID-19 have only gone up by 2% since borders were opened on October 13. The Central Epidemic Command Center said that there will likely be an increase in cases of respiratory diseases in the fall and winter. It also said that over 99% of Taiwan’s COVID-19 cases have been mild.
The center said it would monitor the impact of the policy change on high risk populations and the possibility of new variants coming into the nation. Currently, 76% of COVID-19 cases around the world are caused by the BA.5 variant.
Taiwan’s current vaccination rate is close to 94% for the first shot, 88% have received two shots and almost 74% have received a booster.