Virus Outbreak: Taipei to cover the cost of quarantine stays in hotels

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter





Taipei residents who stay at hotels in the city during their 14-day mandatory quarantine period are eligible to apply for the city’s NT$7,000 subsidy, with online applications to be launched next week.

Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) on Monday said Taipei residents who have COVID-19 Health Declaration and Home Quarantine Notice dated after March 19 and a quarantine hotel receipt for the dates covered by the quarantine period, would be eligible for the subsidy.

The Taipei City Government on Sunday told the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) that so many city residents are under home quarantine that about 90 percent of the city’s quarantine hotels are full, she said.

Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang, center, speaks at a news conference yesterday. Photo: Shen Pei-yao, Taipei Times

Some residents have reported being rejected by other hotels after informing them that they have been ordered into quarantine, she said, she said.

“The city government hopes these quarantined city residents would inform the [non-quarantine] hotels about their situation, so that such hotels can take enhanced precautionary measures,” Huang said.

The hotels can also contact the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism or the Department of Health for assistance if they have guests under quarantine.

As of Monday, there were more than 10,900 people under home quarantine in Taipei after returning from abroad, and people are worried about the increased risk of infection, as well as the heavy burden on borough heads, police officers and officials responsible for monitoring those in quarantine, she said.

If city government thinks that the nation has sufficient testing capacity, more Taiwanese returning from Europe and the US should be tested, she said.

Returning Taiwanese should also be asked to return home in groups every 14 days to avoid putting a strain on the city’s quarantine capacity, Huang said.

Huang was asked yesterday if the city government would require all passengers to wear masks when taking the bus or the mass rapid transport system, following the CECC’s suggestion that the public practice social distancing, but she said it depended on the supply of masks.

It would be more reasonable to enforce a mandatory mask-wearing regulation if there was a sufficient supply of masks, but the decision was up to the center, she said.

However, if the center does announce such a policy, the city would enforce it, she added.