Taiwan yesterday confirmed two more COVID-19 cases as part of a family cluster infection, bringing the nation’s total to 26.
A woman in her 20s and her aunt, in her 40s, have been confirmed as the nation’s 25th and 26th COVID-19 patients respectively, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) told a news conference at the Central Epidemic Command Center.
The 25th patient started coughing on Jan. 28 and developed a fever on Jan. 31 before seeking medical treatment on Feb. 4 and Tuesday last week, while her aunt, who showed no signs of respiratory trouble or a fever, visited a doctor on Feb. 3 and Feb. 6 for gastroesophageal reflux, said Chen, who heads the center.
Photo: AFP
An initial investigation found that the two women were likely infected by a woman in her 60s — the 24th patient, confirmed on Wednesday, as they are related.
The woman in her 60s lives in northern Taiwan and is the grandmother and mother of the other two women, the center said.
The oldest woman lives with her daughter, while her granddaughter visited her on Tuesday last week after she was hospitalized.
The grandmother developed a cough and fever on Jan. 22, and visited a clinic four times over the following week, the center said, adding that she was hospitalized on Jan. 29 for pneumonia and transferred to an intensive care ward on Monday last week.
As none of the three women have traveled abroad in the past two years, the origin of their infection remains unknown, the center said.
In response to comments yesterday by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) that the 24th patient’s residence should be publicized to prevent further panic, Chen said that disclosing that information “would not do much good,” as she was hospitalized one day after her emergency room visit on Jan. 29 and her activities prior to that were not considered within the incubation period of the virus.
Separately yesterday, while answering questions at the Legislative Yuan, Chen said that the travel advisories for Japan and South Korea would most likely be elevated from level 1 to level 2, but no flight restrictions have been planned.
Under the government’s three-tier travel advisory system, a level 1 “watch” urges travelers to take normal precautions and respect disease-prevention measures put in place at their destination.
A level 2 “alert” urges travelers to be more vigilant and a level 3 “warning” cautions against nonessential travel.
The government yesterday dispatched a charter flight operated by China Airlines (中華航空) to repatriate Taiwanese from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which has been quarantined in Japan’s Yokohama Harbor from Feb. 4 due to an outbreak of COVID-19.
A total of 28 Taiwanese — 24 passengers and crew, three passengers with dual citizenship and one commissioned doctor — were on the cruise liner, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Ho Chi-kung (何啟功) said.
Apart from a Taiwanese-US dual national who decided to fly to Hong Kong and those hospitalized in Japan after testing positive for COVID-19, a total of 20 people boarded the charter flight, which arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport last night, he said.
Repatriation procedures were to be more rigorous than an earlier evacuation of Taiwanese from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak, Ho said, adding that on the about 150-seat flight from Japan, those with symptoms of the virus over the past 14 days would be separated from those who have been symptom-free.
A test for the virus would be conducted after landing, followed by another test two days later, he said, adding that people who test negative in both would be sent to a quarantine center, where they would spend another 14 days.
People who test positive in either test would be hospitalized immediately, he added.
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
RSS