Page 79 - 2023 Taiwan Health and Welfare Report
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Communicable Disease Control      06






                      Managing communicable diseases requires     Act" serve as the two main regulations governing
                  disease surveillance, outbreak investigation,   infectious disease prevention and control. In response
                  preparedness, research, and proper immunization.   to the prevention and control needs of the COVID-19
                  Additionally, relevant regulations must keep pace with   pandemic, the Legislative Yuan passed the "Special
                  global trends and changing health needs to construct   Act for Prevention, Relief and Revitalization Measures
                  a solid framework that can ensure the health and   for Severe Pneumonia with Novel Pathogens" on
                  wellbeing of the people.                        February 25, 2020, upon the third reading, and was
                                                                  promulgated by the President. Considering the severity
                  Chapter 1 Communicable Disease                  of the COVID-19 pandemic globally in 2021, the
                                Control Regulations and           Legislative Yuan amended the aforementioned act on
                                System                            May 31, 2021, raising the special budget funding ceiling
                      In order to prevent the incidence and prevalence   to a maximum of NTD 840 billion, and extending the
                  of communicable diseases, Taiwan has enacted    enforcement period to June 30, 2022. Furthermore,
                  the Communicable Disease Control Act and related   due to the rapid changes in the COVID-19 situation, the
                  regulations. The Act specifies the obligations and rights   necessity to continue implementing epidemic prevention
                  associated with the control of communicable diseases   measures  and to procure epidemic prevention
                  among government agencies, medical institutions,   equipment and supplies, the Legislative Yuan agreed to
                  healthcare workers, and the general public. It also   extend the enforcement period of the aforementioned
                  formalizes the roles of healthcare workers in dealing   act and implementation period of the special budget
                  with an epidemic.                               until June 30, 2023, during the 10th session of the 5th
                                                                  meeting on May 27, 2022, in accordance with Article
                  Section 1  Regulations and Framework for
                                                                  19, Paragraph 2 of the act. This extension aims to
                              Communicable Disease Control
                                                                  ensure the safety of the people and maintain the stability
                  1. Laws and Regulations Governing Communicable   of the domestic economy and people's livelihoods.
                    Disease Prevention                            In accordance with the needs of epidemic prevention
                      The "Communicable Disease Control Act" and   work, important regulations and amendments enacted
                  the "HIV Infection Control and Patient Rights Protection   in 2022 are listed in Table 6-1.

                    Table 6-1    List of Communicable Disease Regulations Revised and Issued in 2022


                                                 Date of
                   Name of Regulation / Legal Order                        Objective of Revision
                                               Amendment
                                                          In alignment with the Executive Yuan's approval of the
                                                          "Retention of Mid-level Foreign Technical Workforce Program"
                                                          and the Ministry of Labor's amendment to the "Regulations
                   Regulations Governing
                   Management of the Health    April 29   on the Permission and Administration of the Employment of
                   Examination of Employed Aliens         Foreign Workers," the designation of foreign workers engaged
                                                          in  employment  services  under  Article  46,  Paragraph  1,
                                                          Subparagraph 11 of the Employment Service Act was changed
                                                          to Category III foreign workers.
                   Regulations Governing Awards
                   for the Control of Communicable   May 27  Removed the bonus for reporting confirmed COVID-19 cases
                   Diseases                               among healthcare personnel.
                   The Categories of Communicable
                   Diseases and Preventive
                   Measures for Category IV and V   June 23  Added monkeypox as a Category II infectious disease.
                   Communicable Diseases
                   Regulations Governing                  Clinical laboratories within healthcare institutions, including
                   the Implementation of the              hospitals, that had established testing capabilities, were designated
                   Epidemiological Surveillance   October 5  by the central competent authority to provide specimens or
                   and Advance-Alert System for           pathogenic agents for the surveillance of infectious disease
                   Communicable Diseases                  outbreaks and epidemiological investigations as necessary.
                  Source: Taiwan Centers for Disease Control
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