TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) should mandate COVID-19 tests for travelers arriving from China to stop a new wave of infections, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said Wednesday (Dec. 28).

He was speaking at a special expanded Cabinet meeting dealing with the COVID threat amid a rapid surge of cases in China and Beijing's decision to allow its citizens to travel overseas.

While Su noted that Taiwan was not opening its borders to Chinese tourists, he pointed out that around the Jan. 20-30 Lunar New Year holiday period, 30,000 people were likely to enter Taiwan from China, Radio Taiwan International (RTI) reported. The government also recently decided to resume ferry links between China’s province of Fujian and the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu from Jan. 7 to Feb. 6, though only for residents of the two islands.

COVID testing of arrivals from China could both reveal the scale of the current surge of cases in China, while also preventing a new wave of infections in Taiwan, the CECC said. According to Premier Su, quarantine measures should also be prepared as a possibility for travelers testing positive.

He asked the CECC to study measures already taken by other countries as an example, in order to protect the rights and health of Taiwan residents, while also leaving open the possibility of changes to the Kinmen and Matsu ferry links.