Several hospitals around the nation have imposed restrictions on inpatients’ visitors and companions in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including limiting visitor numbers, reducing visiting hours and requiring people to present identification to enter their facilities.
The National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) in Taipei on Monday began restricting the number of visitors to wards to two per patient, with visiting hours limited to 11:30am to 12:30pm and 7pm to 8pm.
Each inpatient is allowed to have one companion.
Photo: Fang Chih-hsien, Taipei Times
The Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taoyuan has suspended all ward visits, with the exception of intensive care units (ICUs), hospice care units and visitors with special permission. Inpatients are allowed one companion, who is required to register with the hospital.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Kinmen Hospital has a two-visitor policy for its wards, with one companion allowed per patient.
It has reduced visiting hours to two short periods: from 11am to 11:30am and 6pm to 7pm.
Photo: Weng Yu-huang, Taipei Times
Taipei City Hospital’s Heping branch, which was the epicenter of the SARS outbreak in Taiwan in 2003, has barred visitors to its general wards, and limited visits with ICU patients to just a half-hour per day, from 12pm to 12:30pm.
Visiting hours at Taipei City Hospital’s other branches have been cut back to 11am to 11:30am and 7pm to 7:30pm for regular wards, and 11am to 11:30am for ICUs, and only two visitors are allowed per visit.
Patients’ companions — limited to one per patient — must present a companionship ID, have their temperatures taken and be free of fever and respiratory symptoms.
Outpatients, inpatients and their companions, and individuals visiting for work-related reasons must present their National Health Insurance cards, national ID cards or related documents when entering each hospital, the Taipei City Hospital said.
They must also wear a mask and provide their “TOCC”— travel history, occupation, contact history and clusters, it said.
Additional reporting by Tsai Ssu-pei
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS