Department of Information & International Relations, Tainan City Government

In response to the rampant spread of the Omicron variant and also as school semester comes to an end, Tainan’s Bureau of Education has announced the following pandemic prevention and control measures:

1. All schools affiliated with the city government, when organizing extracurricular outdoor teaching activities, these activities should take place within the Tainan City area. All activities and trips that take place outside the vicinity of Tainan must be suspended. However, for the schools who have already planned extracurricular activities (including graduation trips) that will take place by the end of January, these schools could independently decide on whether to continue to hold or cancel these activities after consulting the opinions of parents, assessing the safety of the travel destination, and ensuring thorough implementation of disease prevention and control measures.
2. For winter vacation programs and camps, face-to-face events are still allowed in principle. However, once the CECC announces the elevation to Level 3 Pandemic Alert, all schools must cancel the programs and provide refunds.
3. School-closing Criteria in Tainan city:
   1. If one teacher or student in a class is determined as a suspect case by public health authority, this class must suspend school for two days, and the affiliated school must close for one day.
   2. If one teacher or student in a class is determined as a confirmed case by public health authority, this class must suspend school for 14 days, and the affiliated school must close for three days.
   3. If two or more teachers or students in a class are determined as confirmed cases by public health authority, this entire school must close for 14 days.
   4. All schools can initiate preventive school-closing measures. This refers to the situation when co-living family members of students are identified by public health authority to have had potential contacts with confirmed cases. Even if the students are not listed, to reduce contamination risk, these students can be given two-day leave while waiting for the testing results of their family members.
4. Contingency plan for continuous learning:
   1. All schools must take inventory of available digital devices by the end of the week and complete on-line teaching rehearsal before winter vacation begins.
   2. All schools must survey student demand for digital devices and internet cards. The Bureau has the capacity to allocate resources across six districts and among 12 schools. If there are such need, schools can contact these specific districts and schools to obtain the needed hardware.
5. Step up protection measures:
   1. Besides meal time, all students and staff must wear masks at all times and maintain social distance.
   2. Resume the previous practice of taking temperatures before entering school and leave school each day.
   3. All senior and junior high students must be fully vaccinated by this Friday (Jan.12).
   4. Call on all teachers at schools of different levels, kindergartens, cram schools, and after-class care centers to complete booster shots as the earliest possible.
   5. Request the public to adhere to entry-and-exit rules administered by school authorities; unless necessary, the public should refrain from entering school campuses during class time. During after-class periods, those who enter campus must complete real-name registration, wear masks at all times, and maintain social distance.