The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced six new cases of COVID-19 in Taiwan, all believed to have been imported, the highest number of new confirmed cases in one day, which brought the total to 59.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the nation’s 54th case visited Thailand and Japan; the 55th case led a tour group of 32 people to Egypt; the 56th and 57th cases traveled to Turkey in a group of 15 people; the 58th case is a student who studied in Spain; and the 59th case is a student who visited Greece for about a month.
The nation’s 47th to 59th cases are all imported, except the 50th case, who was in Taiwan, but contracted the virus from his friends visiting him from the US, Chen said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The 54th case is a man in his 30s who visited Thailand from Feb. 28 to March 1 and Hokkaido from March 5 to 8, the center said.
He developed a runny nose on his way to Taiwan on Wednesday, and sought treatment for fatigue and a headache the next day, it said.
The 55th case is a man in his 50s who led a tour group to Egypt from March 3 to Thursday, returned to Taiwan the next day and sought treatment for fatigue, muscle pain and fever, the center said.
The 56th and 57th cases are a man in his 40s and a woman in her 70s who traveled together to Turkey via Dubai and returned to Taiwan on Friday, it said.
The man started to feel ill in Turkey and had an itchy throat, diarrhea and a fever by Friday, while the woman developed a fever on Friday, it added.
The 58th case is a woman in her 20s who has been studying in Spain since January. She developed a mild fever on Thursday and was found to have a fever when she arrived at an airport quarantine station in Taiwan on Friday, the center said.
The 59th case is a teenage student who visited Greece with his family in January, returned to Taiwan on March 5, developed a sore throat on Thursday, and sought treatment for coughing, a runny nose and a headache on Friday, it said.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that as all five cases were confirmed only yesterday, investigations are being carried out to find people they had been in contact with, who would be put under home isolation and testing.
Ministry of Education K-12 Education Administration Director-General Peng Fu-yuan (彭富源) said that classes at the high school attended by the 59th case would be suspended for 14 days.
Information about his close contacts and attendance records would be investigated and submitted to the CECC, while the school would disinfect the campus, he said, adding that extra disease prevention resources, including masks, would be supplied to the school.
Five of the new cases were confirmed shortly after their return to Taiwan and their contact investigation would be prompt, Chen said, but added that the 59th case has been in Taiwan for a while and has attended school, so the CECC is concerned that the case might have caused community transmission.
The center also raised its travel notice for Egypt to a level 2 “alert,” urging people to practice enhanced precautions.
In light of the imported cases, “the CECC must again urge people to avoid all unnecessary travel abroad, because the risk is high, and it does harm if people bring the virus back to Taiwan,” Chen said.
The CECC would proactively screen people in Taiwan who had been to Europe within the previous 14 days and have COVID-19 symptoms, he said.
The announcement came after the center on Saturday said that starting tomorrow, people arriving from 27 European countries it has designated with a level 3 “warning” travel notice would be quarantined at home for 14 days.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
RSS