Local governments can decide whether shuttered businesses can resume operations as long as they apply measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
Taiwan has not reported a local infection for 26 days, showing that the nation’s disease situation has stabilized, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, told a daily news briefing in Taipei.
As of yesterday, the nation had recorded 440 cases, including six deaths, 349 of them imported, 55 local infections and 36 from the Panshih (磐石) navy supply vessel, among whom 355 have been released from quarantine after treatment, center data showed.
Photo: CNA
Despite the easing situation, people should continue to practice disease prevention measures, Chen said, adding that continued vigilance would bring a relaxing of rules.
Chen announced four requirements for local governments to evaluate whether suspended businesses should resume operations.
They should maintain proper social distancing — 1.5m indoors and 1m outdoors — among customers; promote personal hygiene measures, such as requiring visitors to wear masks, checking their temperature and providing disinfectant; control visitor flow, keep a register of people entering the premises and regularly sanitize the environment; and ensure that fire prevention and security systems are in order, he said.
Businesses that fulfill these conditions can be freed from the center’s guidance that groups of 100 indoors or 500 outdoors should be avoided, he said.
The center on April 9 announced that hostess clubs and dance clubs should suspend operations after a hostess in northern Taiwan tested positive for the coronavirus.
Asked why the center said local authorities had the final say in easing restrictions, Chen said that the center offers disease prevention guidelines, but local governments enforce the rules.
Municipalities can make a decision after assessing their own disease prevention capacity and that of businesses, he said.
Chen also promised that the government would improve the system for individual applications for NT$10,000 grants to ensure that people in need can get money.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Thursday apologized for failing to clarify the rules to apply for the grants for uninsured workers.
Su said he would shoulder all responsibility for the long lines and confusion over the application process.
Earlier yesterday, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that Su would be retained to lead the Cabinet on May 20, the start of her second term.
Separately, the center said that the Ministry of Health and Welfare has partnered with Facebook on a service aimed at providing timely and reliable information on the pandemic.
CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that people can use the Facebook messaging app and a chatbot developed by the social media company to ask questions about the pandemic at any time.
People can get up-to-date domestic and overseas information about the pandemic, learn how to prevent COVID-19 and find out where masks can be purchased, the CECC said in a statement.
The service is only available in Chinese, it said.
Additional reporting by CNA
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
COGNITIVE WARFARE: Chinese fishing boats transmitting fake identification signals are meant to test Taiwan’s responses to different kinds of perceived incursions, a report said Chinese vessels are transmitting fake signals in Taiwan’s waters as a form of cognitive warfare, testing Taipei’s responses to various types of incursions, a report by the Institute for the Study of War said on Friday. Several Chinese fishing vessels transmitted fake automatic identification system (AIS) signals in Taiwan’s waters last month, with one mimicking a Russian warship and another impersonating a Chinese law enforcement vessel, the report said. Citing data from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, the report said that throughout August and last month, the Chinese fishing boat Minshiyu 06718 (閩獅漁06718) sailed through the Taiwan Strait while intermittently transmitting its own AIS
The Republic of China (ROC) is celebrating its 114th Double Ten National Day today, featuring military parades and a variety of performances and speeches in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei. The Taiwan Taiko Association opened the celebrations with a 100-drummer performance, including young percussionists. As per tradition, an air force Mirage 2000 fighter jet flew over the Presidential Office as a part of the performance. The Honor Guards of the ROC and its marching band also heralded in a military parade. Students from Taichung's Shin Min High School then followed with a colorful performance using floral imagery to represent Taiwan's alternate name
CHINESE INFILTRATION: Medical logistics is a lifeline during wartime and the reported CCP links of a major logistics company present a national security threat, an expert said The government would bolster its security check system to prevent China from infiltrating the nation’s medical cold chain, a national security official said yesterday. The official, who wished to stay anonymous, made the remarks after the Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media (鏡周刊) reported that Pharma Logistics (嘉里醫藥物流) is in charge of the medical logistics of about half of the nation’s major hospitals, including National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The company’s parent, Kerry TJ Logistics Co (嘉里大榮物流), is associated with the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the
RSS