TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In the wake of new local outbreaks of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) in Hong Kong and Australia, Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) has removed the two from its list of medium-risk countries/regions, meaning that business people from those areas will be forced to undergo the full 14-day quarantine when visiting Taiwan.

During his weekly press conference on Wednesday afternoon (July 22), Minister of Health and Welfare and CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) announced that because of the upward trend of new local coronavirus cases in Australia and Hong Kong, they will be removed from the list of medium-risk countries/regions. Since June 22, business travelers who visit Taiwan from low-risk countries/regions are only required to undergo five days of quarantine, while business people from medium-risk countries/regions only need to enter seven days of quarantine.

The latest list of low-risk countries/regions includes the following:

New Zealand, Macau, Palau, Fiji, Brunei, Vietnam, Thailand, Mongolia, Bhutan, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar

After the removal of Hong Kong and Australia, the list of medium-risk countries/regions includes the following:

South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka

Both Hong Kong and Australia have seen a dramatic spike in the number of local coronavirus infections in July. Hong Kong now has a total of 1,886 confirmed coronavirus cases and 12 deaths from the disease, while Australia has 12,582 cases, with 126 having succumbed to the virus.