The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday raised its travel advisory for Iran to a level 2 “alert” due to increased risk of COVID-19 infection, and confirmed a new case in Taiwan — a foreign caregiver who had been taking care of a previously confirmed case.
“The number of deaths related to COVID-19 in Iran has been continuously growing, although the number of confirmed cases it reported was not so high, so we think the epidemic situation is relatively serious,” said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
The level 2 “alert” means people are advised to take increased precautions when visiting Iran, he said.
Photo: CNA
The number of COVID-19 cases outside China was still serious as of yesterday, with South Korea, Italy, Japan, Iran, Singapore and Hong Kong having confirmed more cases, Chen said, adding that the CECC and other agencies would continue to closely monitor the situations in those countries.
Meanwhile, Chen said the nation’s 32nd case of COVID-19 was confirmed yesterday.
She is a 31-year-old foreign caregiver, who was taking care of the nation’s 27th confirmed case — a man in his 80s who is living in northern Taiwan — when he was hospitalized for pneumonia.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Four of the octogenarian’s family members — his wife, two sons and a grandson — have tested positive for the virus.
A contact investigation for the foreign caregiver is being carried out and a health department is investigating her movements from Feb. 16 to Monday, Chen said, adding that the places she went to might be publicized if the center considers it necessary.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that the woman looked after the octogenarian from Feb. 11 to Feb. 16 while he was in hospital, and after he tested positive for the virus, the department started looking for her.
As the woman was working illegally, the department had to ask police to help search for her, he said, adding that they found her on Monday night and she had a mild sore throat.
CDC Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said that all medical professionals who had close contact with the caregiver tested negative for COVID-19, so the contact investigation is mainly to find people she had close interaction with outside the hospital.
Meanwhile, Department of Medical Affairs Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said that the 134 hospitals designated to handle infectious diseases would within a week expand their number of isolation wards and would specialize only in handling people with suspected respiratory disease or severe pneumonia with novel pathogens.
Strict access control would be required for the specialized wards and healthcare personnel working in the wards would not perform duties in other departments to avoid cross infection, he said.
Previously, only four to six isolation wards were allowed per 100 hospital beds, but the restriction would be temporarily lifted at these hospitals, Shih said, adding that patients without pneumonia-like symptoms would be admitted to other hospitals.
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
RESILIENCE: Once the system is operational, there would be no need to worry about the risks posed by disasters or other emergencies on communication systems, an official said Taiwan would have 24-hour access to low Earth orbit satellites by the end of this month through service provided by Eutelsat OneWeb as part of the nation’s effort to enhance signal resilience, a Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) official said yesterday. Earlier this year the Ministry of Digital Affairs, which partnered with Chunghwa Telecom on a two-year project to boost signal resilience throughout the nation, said it reached a milestone when it made contact with OneWeb’s satellites half of the time. It expects to have the capability to maintain constant contact with the satellites and have nationwide coverage by the end
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any
RSS