President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday urged China to keep information about a viral outbreak that began in Wuhan public and transparent as she called on the WHO not to exclude Taiwan.
Administration members, including herself, Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), were part of the government during the SARS outbreak, Tsai said at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
“Today, 17 years later, we have enough experience, enough preparation and enough confidence to face the challenge,” she said, asking the public to go about their lives, but to pay attention to information released by the government.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Tsai’s appeal came just hours before the WHO convened a group of independent experts to advise if the outbreak should be declared a global emergency.
Tsai attended a national security meeting with senior officials, in which she was briefed on the outbreak and gave instructions.
The outbreak is categorized as level 3, she said, adding that the government has established a “central epidemic command center” and a reporting system.
Government agencies have also formed response teams, Tsai said, adding that epidemic prevention measures at the nation’s airports are “very strict.”
Twenty-six people have been tested locally for the 2019-nCoV infection, with one case having been confirmed, she said.
The patient is a woman who arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on a direct flight from Wuhan, Tsai said.
The woman has since been treated and no longer has a fever, she said.
Other passengers and crew members on the same flight would be monitored for 14 days, Tsai said, adding that those with signs of infection would be quarantined, diagnosed and treated immediately.
The government is to work with media platforms, including social media platforms, to broadcast outbreak information, she said.
It is monitoring the situation and would distribute surgical masks and supplies if needed, Tsai added.
Three cases of Candida auris, a fungus that can cause a yeast infection known as candidiasis in humans, have been reported in Taiwan over the past few years, but they did not display drug resistance, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said yesterday. Lo made the statement at a news conference in Taipei, one day after the Washington Post reported that the potentially deadly fungus is spreading in US hospitals. The fungus was first discovered in Japan in 2009 and poses a danger to immunocompromised people, with an estimated mortality rate of 30 to 60 percent, Lo
‘DIRE’: Taiwan would not engage in ‘dollar diplomacy,’ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, after China reportedly offered Honduras up to US$3 billion to establish relations The government yesterday recalled its ambassador to Honduras after the Central American nation sent its foreign minister to China, signaling that it would sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Suspicions concerning ties with Honduras are rife after Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Tuesday last week wrote on Twitter that her country would pursue diplomatic ties with China. Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina traveled to China on Wednesday “to promote efforts for the establishment of diplomatic relations” on instructions from Castro, Reuters yesterday quoted Honduran presidential spokesman Ivis Alvarado as saying. The government “has decided to immediately recall the ambassador to Honduras
SWITCH TO BEIJING: The government severed diplomatic relations about an hour after Honduras announced the move, saying that no semi-official ties would be maintained Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Honduras and ended all cooperation with the Central American country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, about an hour and a half after the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Twitter at 8am Taiwan time that the nation would cut its ties with Taiwan. Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Wednesday sent Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina to Beijing to negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations. She announced the plan on March 14 on Twitter. “To safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, Taiwan is terminating diplomatic ties with Honduras with immediate effect” after communication with
MEDIA, SOCIETY FOCUS: Doublethink Lab said that Beijing is trying to coerce countries that rely on China economically to pursue policies in its favor China has stronger influence over Taiwan’s media and society than any other country, the Taipei-based Doublethink Lab think tank said yesterday, as it announced its China Index gauging Beijing’s global influence. Taiwan ranked 11th overall among 82 countries assessed, but first in terms of social and media influence, Doublethink Lab chairman Puma Shen (沈伯洋) told a news conference in Taipei. More than 200 experts and academics participated in the project, including some highly influential figures, Shen said. The index collects information from countries worldwide to gauge China’s influence and assess how Chinese policies affect them, Shen said. In terms of Chinese
RSS