TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As Taiwan gradually relaxes COVID-19-related rules, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Monday (March 27) the abolition of the “Food Service Industry Anti-Pandemic Management Measures.”

The rules were created on July 16, 2020 in response to the rise of local COVID cases and set requirements such as staff hand-washing, environmental disinfection, table divider installation, and ethanol or hand disinfectant provision for restaurants offering dine-in service. Self-service restaurants were especially required to prevent food from being contaminated by droplets.

Now, after two and a half years, restaurants have reverted to following “The Regulations on Good Hygiene Practice for Food” (GHP), though they may also formulate their own anti-pandemic hygiene rules.

ETToday cited the FDA as saying the abolition of the “Food Service Industry Anti-Pandemic Management Measures” is in line with the Central Epidemic Command Center’s Feb. 20 revision of its anti-pandemic policies. The decision was made to lift the rules after referencing related policies by other ministries.