Taiwan’s number of COVID-19 cases has increased over the past week. The government’s prevention information strongly promotes masks and hand hygiene, and recommends that alcohol sanitizers or other disinfectants be sprayed on clothes after returning home.
However, there is one widely overlooked source of infection: mobile phones. They should also be disinfected and their use restricted.
Over the past few days, many COVID-19 testing stations have been set up, with people lining up. Everyone has their temperature taken and they wear masks, but during the wait, they never stop playing with their smartphones.
The same happens on public transportation, with people heedless about what they have touched.
The virus can be transferred to a phone from unwashed hands, so using a device after returning home without first disinfecting it is a concerning infection risk.
Studies have shown that viruses remain on phones longer than on clothes, and that more than 50 percent of viral infections are transmitted via the hands, potentially turning phones into virus carriers.
An infection can potentially occur if a hand that just touched a phone goes to the face or food.
People generally are not in the habit of disinfecting phones. They just put them in their pocket or bag after they have finished using them.
Even in the middle of a pandemic, when people diligently sanitize their hands, they forget their phones. Once they arrive home, they might be infected via a virus-laden device.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, people must not let their phones become a source of infection.
The government should provide more information about phone disinfection and instruct people to lower the risks by taking into account the potential infection route their phones create.
Furthermore, people should be careful about using their phones on public transportation and in other busy places, and remember to disinfect them if they do.
Lu Chien-chi is chairman of the Taiwan Philosophical Counseling Association.
Translated by Perry Svensson
When it became clear that the world was entering a new era with a radical change in the US’ global stance in US President Donald Trump’s second term, many in Taiwan were concerned about what this meant for the nation’s defense against China. Instability and disruption are dangerous. Chaos introduces unknowns. There was a sense that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might have a point with its tendency not to trust the US. The world order is certainly changing, but concerns about the implications for Taiwan of this disruption left many blind to how the same forces might also weaken
As the new year dawns, Taiwan faces a range of external uncertainties that could impact the safety and prosperity of its people and reverberate in its politics. Here are a few key questions that could spill over into Taiwan in the year ahead. WILL THE AI BUBBLE POP? The global AI boom supported Taiwan’s significant economic expansion in 2025. Taiwan’s economy grew over 7 percent and set records for exports, imports, and trade surplus. There is a brewing debate among investors about whether the AI boom will carry forward into 2026. Skeptics warn that AI-led global equity markets are overvalued and overleveraged
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Monday announced that she would dissolve parliament on Friday. Although the snap election on Feb. 8 might appear to be a domestic affair, it would have real implications for Taiwan and regional security. Whether the Takaichi-led coalition can advance a stronger security policy lies in not just gaining enough seats in parliament to pass legislation, but also in a public mandate to push forward reforms to upgrade the Japanese military. As one of Taiwan’s closest neighbors, a boost in Japan’s defense capabilities would serve as a strong deterrent to China in acting unilaterally in the
Taiwan last week finally reached a trade agreement with the US, reducing tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15 percent, without stacking them on existing levies, from the 20 percent rate announced by US President Donald Trump’s administration in August last year. Taiwan also became the first country to secure most-favored-nation treatment for semiconductor and related suppliers under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act. In return, Taiwanese chipmakers, electronics manufacturing service providers and other technology companies would invest US$250 billion in the US, while the government would provide credit guarantees of up to US$250 billion to support Taiwanese firms
RSS