TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Monday (July 11) said its movement towards the eased quarantine plan is unchanged, despite reports of new local cases of the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron.

During a press conference that afternoon, a member of the media asked CECC Spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) given the report of two new local BA.5 cases that day, and whether it would be possible to implement the "0 + 7" scheme by late July or August. Chuang said the direction toward loosening the border control policy remains unchanged.

Chuang said that border restrictions will be reviewed on an ongoing basis as the outbreak evolves. Regarding the adjustment from the "3 + 4" quarantine policy to a "0 + 7" formula, Chuang said the implementation will depend on the pandemic situation.

Given that beginning on Thursday (July 14) Taiwanese citizens, foreigners with residence permits, and transiting passengers will be exempted from providing a negative PCR test result two days before their flight for Taiwan, a reporter asked whether this would lead to an increase in local BA.4 and BA.5 infections. Chuang responded by saying that passengers will still need to undergo a saliva test upon arrival in Taiwan and undergo three days of quarantine and four days of self-health management, both of which can reduce the chances of new subvariants from entering the country.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's vaccination coverage rate continues to climb, with 91.38% having received the first dose, 85.16% given the second dose, and 70.62% jabbed with the COVID booster. As for medical resources, out of Taiwan's 11,677 hospital beds designated for COVID patients, 6,817 beds are empty, representing a vacancy rate of 58.4%.

Daily COVID cases have continued to drop, with 19,051 local COVID cases announced that day, a 31% decrease from the previous day and the first time daily cases have dropped below 20,000 since May 2, when 17,801 cases were reported.