CORONAVIRUS/Taiwan to end self-initiated epidemic prevention for migrant workers

Taipei, March 17 (CNA) Migrant workers no longer be forced to stay in individual rooms for seven days upon arrival in Taiwan under new COVID-19 prevention guidelines effective March 20, the Ministry of Labor said Friday.
In addition, prevention measures related to the MOL's Foreign Worker Introduction Program will also be dropped on March 20, meaning protocols for migrant workers arriving in Taiwan will be the same as those pre-pandemic, the ministry said.
Currently, migrant workers arriving in Taiwan must observe a seven-day "self-health disease prevention period," during which they are required to sleep in separate rooms but can share a bathroom.
Despite dropping quarantine requirements for nearly all arrivals in October 2022, Taiwan still enforces accommodation restrictions on migrant workers and nonmigrant worker arrivals with mild COVID-19 infections.
Restrictions on individuals with mild COVID-19 infections will also be dropped on March 20.
Paul Su (蘇裕國), head of the Workforce Development Agency's Cross-Border Workforce Management Division under the MOL, said that along with dropping the self-health disease prevention period, migrant workers will no longer need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter Taiwan.
According to the MOL, for social welfare category migrant workers arriving in Taiwan before March 20, employers can apply with the ministry for a 50 percent subsidy to cover the cost of accommodation during the seven-day self-health disease prevention period.
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