As the domestic COVID-19 pandemic situation improves, Taiwan will allow licensed entertainment venues that include hostess services to resume operations, beginning Nov. 16, but the current COVID-19 Level 2 alert will be extended to Nov. 29, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Thursday.
Licensed adult entertainment venues, such as nightclubs, disco halls, pubs, hostess clubs and massage parlors, with hosts or hostesses, will be conditionally allowed to open from Nov. 16, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (???), who heads the CECC, said at a daily CECC news briefing.
The adult entertainment sector was ordered to close in mid-May when Taiwan raised the COVID-19 alert to Level 3 due to a widening outbreak of local coronavirus infections.
However, employees of such entertainment venues will be required to have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days before and provide a negative rapid antigen or PCR test result taken within the three days before starting work, according to Chen.
Meanwhile, customers will also be required to have had at least one COVID-19 jab to visit such venues.
Operators of these entertainment venues will have to file applications with local governments for approval before resuming services, Chen noted.
After adult entertainment venues reopen, employees who have not received a second COVID-19 shot or have received one within the past 14 days will have to take a weekly rapid antigen or PCR test to continue working, whereas those who have been fully vaccinated will not need to do so, Chen said.
The move marked a further loosening of restrictions on the adult entertainment industry after the CECC in late October announced its decision to conditionally allow entertainment venues that do not include host or hostess services to resume operation from Nov. 2.
Meanwhile, Chen said Thursday the Level 2 COVID-19 alert, the third-highest on the nation's four-tier scale, which has been in place since July 27 and is set to expire on Nov. 15, will be extended two more weeks.
Taiwan first raised the COVID-19 alert to Level 2 on May 11, after recording an increase in community transmission cases, and to Level 3 on May 19 amid a spike in new domestic cases to more than 100 a day.
The CECC lowered the COVID-19 alert to Level 2 on July 27 after a month of reporting fewer than 100 domestically transmitted cases per day.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's face mask mandate, which has been gradually relaxed since early October, will remain in place, according to the CECC.
Under the current rules, people are required to wear face masks whenever they are outside with several exceptions, such as when eating and drinking outside.
In addition, people are no longer required to wear masks in some settings. These include indoor or outdoor venues for singing and exercising; photo shoots; workplaces relating to agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, or fish farming jobs; forest recreation areas and beaches; water facilities, such as cold and hot springs, spas, saunas and steam rooms.
However, people visiting those places will still be required to carry a mask with them, which should be worn if they develop any symptoms or are unable to maintain social distance.
Also, temporary exemptions to mask-wearing are allowed if people are actively engaged in activities where mask-wearing would be impractical, such as live stream production, radio or television broadcasting, hosting radio or television shows, as well as giving speeches, presentations and lectures for a broadcast, or to an audience, according to the CECC.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel