New Variants of COVID-19 Emerging 國際傳新變異株 醫估新冠降級待明年

Starting Oct. 13, inbound travelers no longer have to undergo quarantine but a seven-day self-initiated prevention will be required. Health experts say that people in Taiwan still need to remain cautious because the virus has splintered into a dazzling array of subvariants that are now driving fresh waves of COVID-19 cases around the world. Masks are still advised during social gatherings and on the plane for people who wish to travel abroad. 

Taiwan's borders reopened on Oct. 13. Travelers flooded in at Taoyuan International Airport like in the past. Doctors say however, that the end of border control does not mean that the pandemic has come to an end. Experts say that the pandemic is still at a plateau of high case counts in Taiwan, and people should watch out for a community spread with travelers coming into Taiwan.

Hung Tzu-jen, Adjunct Associate Professor, National Yang Ming Chia Tung University: “We should observe for a month or so to see whether the reopening of our borders on Oct. 13 would have an impact on the risk for community spread and on our medical capacity.”

Experts further analyzed that the current COVID situation in Taiwan would only get better when the number of confirmed weekly COVID-19 cases goes down compared to the week before. There is a chance for this to happen by the later half of October. Doctors say that Taiwan should be on the watch out for new COVID variants now that borders have reopened. The Omicron strain has splintered into an array of subvariants around the world and the degree of transmissibility is uncertain.

Lee Ping-ing, Doctor: “We are still at the beginning stages with mutated variants, we don't know if any of them will become a dominant strain. If a dominant strain appears from the variants, it is likely to enter Taiwan through the reopened border.”

Doctors say that new variants usually take two to three months before they reach Taiwan, but now the spread is likely to be faster. Whether the new COVID variants are becoming more like the flu remains to be observed. COVID-19 will not get downgraded in its category of communicable disease until it is less lethal and contagious than the flu. 

今日零時起國門大開，桃園機場出入境大廳湧現久違人潮，看似回到疫情前生活，但醫師提醒，解封絕對不等於疫情結束，尤其國內疫情還在高原期，隨著出入境人流回升，也要小心觀察社區疫情。

陽明交通大學兼任副教授洪子仁指出：「觀察的時間可以大概放在一個月左右，因為在一個月左右的時間，我們就可以觀測到，10月13日的政策到底對於社區的傳播風險，以及對我們的醫療量能會產生什麼樣的影響。」

專家分析，接下來要關注國內是否能「連續7天確診數，較上週同期減少」，才會是疫情往下的轉折時間點，有機會落在10月中下旬。而醫師提醒，因國際又出現新的新冠病毒變異株，目前還無法得知，是否傳播更快速，因此在開國門後，要注意流行病毒株是否改變。

醫師李秉穎表示：「現在還是在變異病毒剛出現的初期，我們還不知道說它會不會變成一個主要的流行病毒株，不過即使它是變成主要的病毒株的話，它也可能經過這種入境的管控，很快就傳入台灣。」

醫師指出，過去新變異株在國外出現後，大約2、3個月入侵台灣，現在速度會加快。變異株是否會讓新冠再朝向「輕症化」，還要觀察，推估要等到新冠引起的感染程度小於流感時，才有機會從法定傳染病降級。