The central government should explain how surgical masks are allocated across the nation to prevent 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection, or there might be a political backlash if an outbreak occurs and people cannot purchase masks, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday.
As the Central Epidemic Command Center has centralized distribution of masks, local governments might “inflate” the numbers they need, so they can “grab” more masks, Ko said, adding that the central government should make public how supplies are to be allocated.
“There has not yet been an outbreak of 2019-nCoV in communities, but if there is an outbreak, panic buying of masks would become more serious,” Ko said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
A political backlash would ensue if the government is not open and transparent about the distribution process, he added.
Ko, a doctor, said he believed the coming week would be the most critical time for disease prevention, and that if an outbreak does not occur, then mask supply and demand would reach a balance.
Taiwan should implement more stringent preventive measures in the coming week, because there might be some infected people who have not yet shown symptoms given the virus’ 14-day incubation period, he said.
These measures could be loosened if no outbreak occurs in the coming week, he said.
Instead of adding production lines, Ko said that boosting production of existing lines to 24 hours a day might be a more practical solution to address a potential mask shortage.
In related news, police seized tens of thousands of masks in outbound postal packages, as the government continued its crackdown to secure supplies in Taiwan.
As of yesterday noon, a total of 87,180 masks have been found in overseas-bound parcels at Chunghwa Post’s mail processing center in Taipei, the Aviation Police Bureau said.
The government has imposed a ban until Feb. 23 on mask exports, including through the postal service, unless the exporter has received authorization from the Bureau of Foreign Trade, it said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods