The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday raised the travel advisories for Japan and South Korea to a level 2 “alert” — “practice enhanced precautions” — after rapidly rising numbers of locally transmitted COVID-19 infections were reported.
Japan has 110 confirmed cases spread over 14 prefectures, while South Korea has 346 confirmed cases, the center said, adding that more than 70 percent of cases in both countries are suspected of being locally transmitted with an unknown source of infection, and clusters of healthcare-associated infections have been reported.
As the two countries are popular destinations among Taiwanese, the center has decided to elevate the travel advisories, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said, adding that additional border controls might be imposed if the epidemic situations deteriorate.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Travel to Japan or South Korea in the previous 30 days would also be flagged in the National Health Insurance (NHI) information of returning Taiwanese, said Chen, who heads the center.
Separately yesterday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement that Taiwan’s disease situation does not fulfill the definitions for community spread, adding that the ministry has fully explained the nation’s situation to the US.
Ou’s remarks came after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this week listed Taiwan as one of many “destinations with apparent community spread” of COVID-19, prompting a request from the ministry on Thursday for the CDC to correct Taiwan’s status.
The US replied that it understands the nation’s concern and hopes that Taiwan will provide more information to facilitate its evaluation, Ou said yesterday.
As of press time last night, no new confirmed COVID-19 cases had been reported in Taiwan yesterday.
An investigation into people who came into contact with the nation’s 24th case — a woman in her 60s living in northern Taiwan who has not traveled abroad in two years — is still in progress, Chen said.
The center was originally worried about healthcare-associated infections, because the woman was not sent to an isolation ward when she was first diagnosed with pneumonia, but COVID-19 tests on 134 healthcare practitioners who had close contact with her were all negative, he said.
The center expanded the investigation to include 465 people who had close contact with the woman. Among the 181 people who have been tested, her granddaughter and daughter were on Friday confirmed as the nation’s 25th and 26th cases.
Regarding a contact investigation for the nation’s 19th confirmed case, a 61-year-old man who was the nation’s first COVID-19 fatality, Chen said that 256 people have been tested for the coronavirus.
Four people — the man’s relatives and the nation’s 20th to 23rd cases — tested positive, while all others had negative results, he said.
The center considers the cluster of cases related to the fatality “case closed,” he added.
Meanwhile, the National Health Insurance Administration announced that the age limit to buy masks for children with an NHI card has been increased from 12 to 13 years.
Starting yesterday, children’s masks can be purchased at pharmacies for children born in 2007 and later, it said.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS