The government’s travel notice for South Korea has been raised to a level 3 “warning” — avoid all nonessential travel — due to a jump in the number of COVID-19 cases there, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, adding that two more cases have been confirmed in Taiwan.
The community spread of the virus in South Korea has been shown by the rapid increase in confirmed cases in the past few days, which totaled 763 yesterday, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said.
“As the risk of infection is elevated in the country, the center decided to raise the travel notice to level 3,” said Chen, who serves as the center’s head. “We recommend people avoid all nonessential travel.”
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo / EPA-EFE
As of 12am today, all foreign nationals arriving in Taiwan from South Korea would be placed under a 14-day mandatory home quarantine, he said.
Taiwanese passengers arriving today and tomorrow would be asked to implement a 14-day self-health management period, but as of 12am on Thursday, everyone arriving from South Korea would be put under a 14-day quarantine, he said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an “orange” warning on travel to South Korea, advising people to avoid unnecessary travel to the nation, but issued the highest “red” warning on travel to Daegu, Gyeongsang-bukdo and Cheongdo-gun, where the South Korean government has declared special management zones, Chen said.
When asked if similar border controls would be imposed on passengers arriving from Japan, Chen said Japan is “on the edge of” being listed at a higher warning level.
The number of confirmed cases in Japan is relatively high, with locations spread across the nation, including Okinawa and Hokkaido, he said.
“The CECC is closely observing and discussing the COVID-19 epidemic situations in Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Italy and Iran, and we will make proper decisions if the outbreaks in these areas become worse,” he said.
The two new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Taiwan, the 29th and 30th, are family members of the two cases announced on Sunday — an octogenarian father and one of his sons, who is in his 50s — the younger son and older man’s wife, he said, adding that a contact investigation into the family cluster infection is under way.
Chen confirmed that a Taiwanese hemophiliac, who had been stranded in Wuhan, China, with his mother since that city was locked down on Jan. 23, was to return to Taiwan on a flight from Chengdu last night.
The teen’s doctor had assessed his condition through telemedicine and a nurse had been deployed to Chengdu to help them take proper protective measures before and during the flight, Chen said.
The pair would be separated from other passengers during the flight, and be taken to an isolation ward in a hospital after being tested for COVID-19 upon arrival, he said.
If they test negative twice, they would be moved to a quarantine station for a 14-day stay, he added.
The teen’s case had required special medical consideration and protective measures, he said, adding that Taiwanese stranded in Wuhan must return home on charter flights and undergo a quarantine period after arrival.
‘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
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
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS