Press Release of the Offshore Control Division of the Executive Yuan's SARS Epidemic Prevention, Control and Relief Commitee
The Executive Yuan has decided that the offshore control measures and the "Type B Home Quarantine Measures," which have been effective since April 28 to prevent the spreading of the SARS epidemic, are to be extended for another 14 days, starting from today (May 26). Yet to soften the negative impact on the development of domestic industries and normal business activities, restrictions on the issuance of visas for business trips during the continued implementation of the above measures have been conditionally eased. Still, business travelers are required to strictly comply with the new, more flexible quarantine regulations.
The Offshore Control Division today conducted again a review of the flexible adjustment measures for business travelers, including procedural details, related regulations, and documents and certificates to be attached as required, etc., to ensure there are no loopholes in the new regulations. In addition, the Offshore Control Division has called on all related competent governmental agencies to relay the related rules and thoroughly let their staff responsible for implementation work in the front line have understanding of the newly adjusted rules. At the same time, the bosses of local companies, if they are eligible for application, will be informed of the new, flexible arrangements. Companies will have to provide guarantees so that their business personnel can be arranged with flexible home quarantine measures. This way, SARS prevention requirements and the needs of normal business operations are met at the same time.
The Offshore Control Division stressed that although the adjusted measures taken this time only relax the purposes of entry into Taiwan and admit of a reasonable space conducive to normal business activities, yet the competent supervising and auditing authorities will as usual continue to monitor and check the proper implementation of prevention and quarantine measures. All the measures, including prevention and quarantine tasks implemented at the airports and harbors as well as the crackdown on illegal immigration and smuggling, will also be continued with enhanced efforts.
The Offshore Control Division declared that special restrictions are in force for medical workers planing to leave the country. In the process of medical care, medical personnel are apt to contact SARS patients. To prevent SARS from spreading, the Department of Health (DOH) has announced that medical workers planning overseas trips must produce a "Medical Staff Exit Certificate" issued by their own medical institution, stating that they have had no close contact with SARS patients in the ten days preceding their application. Only then will they be allowed to leave the country. This rule applies to doctors, therapists, nurses, pharmacists, medical examiners, and other medical workers. This measure may cause some inconveniences, yet is a necessary part of Taiwan's anti-SARS efforts. The Offshore Control Division called on all medical workers to have understanding and comply with this regulation. Application forms for a "Medical Staff Exit Certificate" can be downloaded at websites of the Department of Health or the Bureau of Immigration under the Ministry of the Interior.
With regard to the case of the elderly veteran Huang and his wife, who were forced, because of staff negligence, to spend one night at the CKS International Airport after returning from the Mainland on May 24, the Offshore Control Division declared that quarantine berths at the Chutung Veterans General Hospital had been arranged for the retired serviceman and his wife by the Veterans Affairs Commission under the Executive Yuan, and that the couple were receiving adequate care. The Offshore Control Division added that it has already asked the competent authorities to investigate who was responsible for the incident, and to penalize them for their negligence.
The Offshore Control Division also called on the population to understand that home quarantine subjects are only quarantined at home for observation, but that this does not imply that they are all SARS patients. The public should appreciate this fact to avoid the occurrence of a similar situation in which the landlord of the above veteran refused to let his tenants return to their apartment for quarantine at home because they returned from a SARS-affected area. That case also highlighted the fact that the original decision to choose the centralized quarantine center at the Hungwu Military Camp is made without consideration of the quarantine and care needs of disabled people. The Offshore Control Division called on the related governmental agencies to prepare in advance for improving the situation. In certain special cases, such as that of the Huangs, the returnees may first be put up at a transit hotel for temporary quarantine. The government will coordinate with related departments to allocate special relief funds to foot the hotel bill in such cases. The Offshore Control Division said that all staff involved should learn a lesson from the Huang incident, and review their procedures to avoid similar glitches in the future.