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Austria, Germany & Japan to ease coronavirus rules
Austria and Germany have both announced plans to relax coronavirus measures only weeks after pushing for compulsory vaccinations to curb the spread of infections.
Although unvaccinated people will still face restrictions, Germans are being promised a "freedom day" on 20 March while most measures will be dropped in Austria on 5 March.
However, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz is warning the pandemic is not over and his government still plans to make vaccinations mandatory.
Austria passed a law earlier this month that made vaccination against the coronavirus mandatory, becoming the first country in Europe to do so.
Meanwhile, Japan is loosening some travel restrictions for travellers from certain countries, including Taiwan.
Japan says that beginning in March, it will begin to relax some border restrictions for new arrivals, including allowing for entry applications for non-tourist foreigners, an increase of the daily arrival limit from 3,500 to 5,000, and the shortening of quarantine upon entry, from 7 days to 3 days, for arrivals from certain countries.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung noted today that Taiwan has been included in the list of countries with shorter quarantine time.
Chen has expressed his gratitude to Japan for its trust in Taiwan's epidemic prevention success, but says Taiwan will have to wait for Japan's current outbreak to even out, before Taiwan can reciprocate the loosened restrictions.
