The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) in Taiwan has pointed out that it has formulated strengthened COVID-19 surveillance programmes to reduce the risk of the Delta variant entering communities in Taiwan.

To enhance community surveillance, the CECC will distribute government-funded COVID-19 home test kits to contracted clinics in cities and counties on August 30.

Based on their diagnosis, doctors can provide the home test kits to high-risk individuals who will use the test kits to test themselves and report back their test result.

To monitor the health of certain high-risk personnel at international airports, certain high-risk personnel at Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Songshan Airport, Taichung International Airport, and Kaohsiung International Airport will be tested for COVID-19 using government-funded home test kits every seven days starting August 30.

Taiwan is also expanding wastewater surveillance and conducting surveys on the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among blood donors.