PRECAUTION FOR MIGRANTS: The government has temporarily suspended accepting applications from four employment agencies in Indonesia after a spike in cases

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 19, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Starting tomorrow, all Indonesian migrant workers arriving in Taiwan will be placed under centralized quarantine, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported two new imported cases of COVID-19 infection.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that while many travelers from the Philippines have been confirmed with COVID-19 in the past few months, the number of imported cases from Indonesia has also been increasing.

So in addition to requiring all migrant workers employed in the social welfare sector to stay at centralized quarantine facilities upon arrival, as of tomorrow, all Indonesian workers are to be placed under centralized quarantine and receive mandatory COVID-19 testing before leaving quarantine, he said.

An investigation by the CECC and the Ministry of Labor found that four employment agencies in Indonesia that train migrant workers for employment in Taiwan seemed to have inadequate COVID-19 infection controls, so the ministry has temporarily suspended accepting applications from them.    [FULL  STORY]