President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that the spread of COVID-19 in Taiwan does not qualify as community spread as stated on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web site, given that the nation only has isolated cases, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the US to correct Taiwan’s status.
In its latest information, the CDC included Taiwan as a travel destination with apparent community spread of COVID-19, alongside Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
While visiting a vaccine center at the National Health Research Institutes in Miaoli County yesterday, Tsai echoed remarks by Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), saying that Taiwan’s situation does not constitute community spread and that members of the public should not panic.
Photo: Cheng Ming-hsiang, Taipei Times
“We will do our best to ensure everyone’s good health,” Tsai said, adding that disease-prevention efforts would always be performed to the highest standard.
Asked about the US move, foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement that the status of COVID-19 in Taiwan does not meet the criteria set by the CDC as necessary for community spread.
For community spread, the CDC states that the infection source of a certain confirmed case cannot be identified, the number of local infection cases far exceeds that of overseas infections, a chain of continuous transmission has been identified and clusters of infection are extensive.
The ministry has asked the US to correct Taiwan’s status to reflect its current situation, Ou added.
In related news, Taiwanese stranded onboard the virus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama, Japan, are scheduled to return to Taiwan today on a charter flight operated by China Airlines (中華航空), the ministry said yesterday.
The flight is scheduled to depart from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 1:30pm, land at Tokyo Haneda International Airport and return to Taiwan at 10:30pm.
After being quarantined in their cabins for 14 days, Diamond Princess passengers who tested negative for COVID-19 were allowed to disembark on Wednesday.
Five Taiwanese passengers who disembarked on Wednesday were taken to a hotel after being received by Taiwanese officials, including Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), at the Port of Yokohama.
Hsieh yesterday received another nine Taiwanese, expressing sympathy to them on behalf of the government.
Five Taiwanese passengers tested positive for COVID-19 and were hospitalized in Japan, but 19 Taiwanese were eligible to take the charter flight, Ou said yesterday.
“The ministry hopes to repatriate all 19, but respects the decision of each person, so the number returning on the charter flight is uncertain,” Ou said, adding that additional tests and a 14-day home quarantine would be required of those who return.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan and Lu Yi-hsuan
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS