The Offshore Control Division of the Executive Yuan's SARS Epidemic Disaster Response Committee just concluded a two-day meeting to discuss the recent SARS epidemic. Among the topics discussed with conclusive results were: how to determine areas with a concentration of SARS cases, and set up a mechanism for public declaration; how to fix a set of rules for dealing with travelers entering Taiwan from areas with a concentration of SARS cases; how to deal with on-duty issues related to flight crews and ship crews; how to control personnel entering via Macao; how to examine and verify data of all inbound passengers and how to link up and exchange information of these passengers with the relevant health authorities; how to handle issuance and validity periods of passports for Taiwan's businesspeople in China; how to implement stronger precautionary measures by the Coast Guard Administration and the Council of Agriculture. Other issues on the agenda were SARS prevention measures taken in Kinmen to deal with the “Mini-Three-Links,” the establishment of a single window system for reporting new cases and matters of official documentation.
On April 27, the Executive Yuan had set up the “SARS Epidemic Disaster Response Committee.” The Offshore Control Division under that Committee began to operate on the same day, with the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) serving as its counseling agency, and MAC Chairperson Tsai serving as its convener. Its members come from such diverse agencies as the MAC, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Council of Agriculture, the Department of Health (DOH), the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, the Coast Guard Administration, and the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). Since its inauguration, the Offshore Control Division (OCD) has already held two special topic meetings on April 28 and 29, respectively. In those sessions, the focus was on discussing a mechanism of accompanying measures for efficient policy implementation after the Executive Yuan had announced an emergency response to the collective outbreak of SARS at the Taipei Municipal HoPing Hospital on April 27. Later, on the agenda was the public response to the government's SARS policy and directives, and to the recently implemented or enforced accompanying measures. Also discussed on a day-to-day basis are feasible new measures, and the follow-up of all participating agencies in implementing policies ad locum.
With regard to the “definition of areas with a concentration of SARS cases and the timing to publicly announce such areas,” the Government has already asked the DOH to publish daily updates on its website according to the WHO's declarations of epidemic concentration areas of SARS cases. It has further advised all involved agencies to check these updates every morning at 8:00 a.m., and make them an important guideline in performing their tasks. For example, the WHO on April 29 had announced that Vietnam was no longer classified as one of areas with a concentration of SARS cases. Consequently, the Response Committee has also taken Vietnam off its list of areas where quarantine measures against SARS are applicable. Canada, on the other hand, will be for the time being strictly considered an infected area. Canada, not just Toronto, is considered in its entirety a quarantined area and is listed as one of areas subject to the above measures. In the coming days, the Response Committee will consider relaxing quarantine restrictions on travelers from Canada.
The regulations with regard to travelers entering Taiwan from Macao are presently as follows: (1) For ROC (Taiwan) nationals: Those who return directly from Macao to Taiwan, and have stayed in Macao for more than ten days, will not be placed under quarantine, if they hold a certificate issued by Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in Macao stating that they did not leave the Macao area over the past ten days. Also exempt from quarantine measures will be transit passengers who travel to Taiwan via Macao from an area without a concentration of SARS cases, provided they can produce evidence such as plane tickets and boarding passes. However, travelers entering Taiwan from Mainland China, Hong Kong or other concentration areas of SARS cases via Macao, and who have spent less than ten days in Macao, will still be subject to compulsory quarantine at home. (2) For non-ROC nationals: Foreigners entering Taiwan directly from Macao are exempt from quarantine measures, if they can prove by passport stamps that they have not been to any SARS-infected concentration areas recently. Foreign transit passengers who travel to Taiwan from an area without a concentration of SARS cases via Macao will be exempt from quarantine after their evidences (plane tickets, boarding passes) have been examined and verified. Only foreigners entering Taiwan via Macao from Mainland China, Hong Kong or other infected areas will be subject to compulsory quarantine measures. (3) For Macao residents: Macao residents who are entering Taiwan from Macao and have not been to Mainland China, Hong Kong or other infected areas with a concentration of SARS cases over the past ten days will be exempt from compulsory quarantine if they can produce a document issued by the Macao government stating that they have not left Macao for a certain period of time. Only Macao residents who have traveled to Mainland China, Hong Kong or other areas with a concentration of SARS cases within the past ten days will be subject to compulsory quarantine measures. The above regulations came into force on April 30.
The regulations with regard to flight crews and ship crews are currently as follows:
Flight Crews: (1) ROC-nationals: Onboard personnel flying on routes to/from areas with a concentration of SARS cases will be subject to compulsory quarantine measures. Those who have been examined by airline medical staff and found not to be infected with SARS may resume their work. (2) Non-ROC nationals: Onboard personnel flying on routes to/from areas with a concentration of SARS cases will be subject to quarantine measures. They may be quarantined in a hotel designated by the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), or be placed under management by the airline company or under quarantine in any designated hotel as arranged by the employer. Such personnel may resume their work for the next scheduled flight after their employers have found them return to normal body temperature. The employers will be responsible for taking managerial measures perfectly. (3) Details of the procedure for issuance of a work continuation/resumption permit, after coordination with relevant agencies, will be contained in the “Special Epidemic Prevention Compulsory Quarantine Notice” issued specifically for flight crews.
Ship Crews: (1) For both passenger and cargo ships, the top priority is to advise crews not to go ashore. If disembarkation is necessary, the same rules will apply as for flight crews (ROC/non-ROC respectively). (2) Principally, all passenger/cargo vessel personnel are the target of quarantine and will arrange them to be quarantined in the CKS International Airport Transit Hotel. The CKS International Airport and the Bureau of Immigration will communicate with each other regarding issues of transportation and costs incurred.
The following additional principles for dealing with travelers entering Taiwan were also agreed on:
Passengers who travel from a SARS-infected area with a concentration of SARS cases to an area without a concentration of SARS cases, and then go on to enter Taiwan, will not be subject to compulsory quarantine if they can produce evidence (plane tickets/boarding passes) that they spent at least ten days in the area without a concentration of SARS cases before entering Taiwan.
Travelers coming from an area without a concentration of SARS cases, but transferring to Taiwan in an area with a concentration of SARS cases without leaving the airport (simple airport transit) will be placed under enhanced follow-up surveillance and will be issued an Enhanced Follow-up Surveillance Notice.
Non-ROC nationals (such as personnel of multi-national corporations, foreign spouses of ROC nationals and foreign laborers) holding an ROC residence visa are still allowed to enter Taiwan from SARS-infected areas with a concentration of cases, but they will be put under compulsory quarantine at home for ten days. Those who need to leave Taiwan again before the ten days are up, may do so after receiving a permit from the competent authority and undergoing airport prevention and quarantine measures.
Areas subject to regulations of the above special program will include the Mainland area. The Offshore Control Division has already decided to ask the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) to speedily inform (via intranet) Taiwanese businesspeople in the Mainland of the relevant measures being taken, so that they may gain an understanding of the situation and take appropriate countermeasures. Taiwanese businesspeople in the Mainland have brought to our attention the problem of the expiry of passport validity, and the Offshore Control Division has coordinated with the MOFA and gained its agreement to allow Taiwanese businesspeople to board planes with overstayed passports during the implementation period of the above special program.
In response to the SARS epidemic, the Coast Guard Administration and the Council of Agriculture have considered the SARS prevention measures executed by them and drafted respectively “Concrete Patrol, Search and Seizure Measures To Be Taken by the Executive Yuan’s Coast Guard Administration in Response to the SARS Epidemic,” and “Epidemic Prevention Measures To Be Taken by the Council of Agriculture for Fishing Vessels Crews.” On its April 29 session, the Offshore Control Division decided that upon seizing Mainland Chinese vessels conveying illegal immigrants or smuggled goods, the captain/operator and crew of the vessel will have to be put under compulsory quarantine in accordance with the regulations for travelers entering Taiwan from areas with a concentration of SARS cases and the ship will be further sterilized. Should the captain/operator and crew of the vessel be ROC nationals, they shall be subject to compulsory quarantine at home; Were they PRC nationals, they shall be transferred to the Jinglu shelter and dealt with according to prevention measures taken by the Bureau of Immigration.
In addition, for the purpose of SARS prevention, the Council of Agriculture will announce a temporary halt to the hiring of new crew members from Mainland China by Taiwan fishing vessels. Also, the itineraries of fishing vessels will be put under close scrutiny to check if these vessels have been in recent ten days to SARS-infected concentration areas as declared by the WHO. The Council of Agriculture will equip ROC ports and outposts with additional thermometers and other equipment to have fisher crews take ear temperatures. Should suspected cases turn up, appropriate quarantine measures will be taken.
In Kinmen, intensified epidemic prevention measures include the following: All transit passengers at Shuitou Pier shall have their body temperature taken with an ear thermometer. Those with a temperature of above 37.5 degrees Celsius shall immediately be transferred to the local county hospital for further diagnosis and treatment. Those who are the suspected SARS-infected people shall be quarantined in the county hospital. Should there be more than ten suspected SARS cases, the other patients of the hospital shall be evacuated to the Huakangshih Hospital.
Those whose body temperature does not exceed 37.5 degrees Celsius shall be issued a quarantine notice and put under quarantine at home if they are Kinmen residents. If they are Taiwanese businesspeople from the Mainland, they shall be permitted to leave Kinmen on an airplane, but their relevant data shall be recorded and transmitted to the health bureau of their city/county of residence so that the respective bureau will put them under quarantine at home. Should the airport be closed, preventing immediate onward travel, there are plans to temporarily quarantine the Taiwanese businesspeople in a local hotel. Initial plans would have them undergo quarantine at the Police Torch Hostel, but a final agreement on this has not been reached yet.
In the coming days, the Offshore Control Division will make detailed plans and adjustments on the following issues:
(1) Prompt relaxing/lifting or strengthening of entry/exit control measures in response to the development of the domestic SARS epidemic.
(2) Coordinate with all agencies involved in SARS prevention to enhance circulation of Taiwan's epidemic data in other countries. This will allow both ROC nationals living abroad and foreigners to make timely adjustments to their travel schedules and plans.
(3) With regard to customs procedures, the Offshore Control Division will coordinate with all agencies involved to implement prevention and quarantine measures without unnecessarily affecting travelers’ time schedule and convenience. The idea is to cause as little inconvenience to tourists as possible.
(4) Through cooperation of all agencies involved, ensure that transferal/rescheduling of airline personnel/flight crews be provided with as much convenience as possible, so as to reduce to a minimum the negative influence on airline operations and personnel's work.
During the period of this major disaster, the government and the people of Taiwan have devoted all their energies to the prevention and quarantine task against SARS. While the Executive Yuan's SARS Epidemic Disaster Response Committee's quarantine and prevention measures are implemented as a special program, the people of Taiwan will have to put up with some degree of inconvenience of movement. However, what comforts us is that the Offshore Control Division draws encouragement from the fact that it has received numerous phone calls and inquiries in which people have expressed their full support for government measures, and proposed a number of suggestions for their better implementation. On behalf of the entire government, the Offshore Control Division would like to thank our nationals for their understanding and support.