TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Thursday (July 7) announced that it had raised the quota for arriving passengers to 40,000 per week, with immediate effect.

On June 11, Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) announced that Taiwan would be shortening its mandatory quarantine for arriving passengers from its "7+7" plan to a "3+4" formula starting on June 15. However, one of the caveats was a 25,000-person weekly quota on arrivals.

At a Thursday (July 7) press conference, Chen said the weekly quota would be raised to 40,000 effective immediately. In a press release the CECC said that after three weeks under the 25,000 limit, the decision had been made to raise the quota after observing the situation with the pandemic and local outbreak, and taking into consideration domestic epidemic prevention measures and medical capacity.

Lin Kuo-shian (林國顯), director-general of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, said that following Thursday's press conference, the airlines would be notified of the change. Lin said the airlines will be able to take the increased quota into account when arranging for new inbound flights.

In addition, Chen said that starting on July 14, Taiwanese citizens and foreigners with valid residence permits, as well as all passengers transferring through Taiwan will be exempt from the rule requiring proof of a negative result from a PCR test taken 48 hours before boarding a flight to Taiwan. However, those who test positive for COVID while overseas may not enter Taiwan until seven days after the date their test was taken.