The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) expects an increase in the number of returning travelers in the coming days, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday, adding that the varying qualities of COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test reports from other countries is a big concern.
Chen, who heads the center, was speaking to the media on the sidelines of a Taiwan Foundation for Rare Disorders scholarship award ceremony in Taipei.
“As the global COVID-19 situation is worsening, and with some holidays coming up, there might be an increase in the number of overseas Taiwanese returning to Taiwan,” he said.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
The expected increase in numbers in the next few days is also linked to a policy requiring all arriving passengers to provide the result of a PCR test issued within three days of boarding a flight to Taiwan, starting tomorrow, he said.
Asked how the authenticity of PCR results provided by arriving passengers could be verified, Chen said “it is very difficult … the different levels of quality of PCR test results [from different countries], the possibility of fabricated PCR test results, and even how to prove that individuals have been vaccinated ... these are all difficult problems.”
Therefore, the center cannot only rely on the PCR results taken before departure when judging whether an arriving passenger is infected with COVID-19, he said.
Asked to comment on public concern that travelers would need to take another PCR test if their scheduled flight is suddenly canceled, Chen said that would be an exceptional condition, so the traveler would not need to take another test or face a fine.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is also the CECC’s spokesman, told a news conference that it is difficult to identify fake reports, and that the center could try to find patterns of possible fake reports among those received.
The center encourages people to report anyone they know of who has used fabricated PCR test result documents, he said, adding that people who provide a fake report face a fine of NT$10,000 to NT$150,000 for breaching the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法).
Meanwhile, Chuang said that three Indonesian women who came to Taiwan to work have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the number of cases in the country to 651.
Two of them did not experience symptoms in Taiwan, but tested positive in a mandatory test taken on Friday before leaving centralized quarantine, Chuang said.
The other case had an abnormal sense of smell on Tuesday last week while staying in centralized quarantine, but did not report the condition, as she thought the symptom was mild and brief, he said, adding that she also tested positive in a mandatory test on Friday.
SOURED RELATIONS: Program director Jennifer Liu said the move to Taipei was due to a ‘perceived lack of friendliness’ from Beijing Language and Culture University Harvard University is to relocate its summer Mandarin program from Beijing to National Taiwan University (NTU) starting next year, a student publication reported on Thursday last week. Run at Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) since 2004, the Harvard Beijing Academy is to become the Harvard Taipei Academy once it moves to Taiwan, Crimson magazine reported. Program director Jennifer Liu (劉力嘉) attributed the decision to a “perceived lack of friendliness” from the Chinese university, potentially due to shifting political winds. Liu told the magazine that BLCU in recent years had failed to provide a single dorm for the students or separate accommodation of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday issued a rebuttal to former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who said a fistfight in the Legislative Yuan might have been “provoked from the outside” to destabilize Taiwan. Rice made the comment in an online discussion about the AUKUS alliance of Australia, the UK and the US hosted by the Policy Exchange forum in London on Thursday. On mention of Taiwan, she was quoted by The Australian as predicting that Beijing would use paramilitary forces and acts of sabotage to destabilize the nation. “There was a fistfight in the Taiwanese parliament a few weeks ago
ADVANCING TECH: With revenue on target to reach US$15.4 billion, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker said it is looking to produce 3-nanometer chips later this year Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday announced plans to build a new plant in Japan next year to produce 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer chips in its latest effort to expand its global manufacturing footprint. The Japanese fab is to start operations in 2024, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker said, ending months of speculation. “We have received strong commitment to supporting this project from our customers and the Japanese government,” TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told a quarterly investors’ conference. “We believe the expansion of our global manufacturing footprint will enable us to better serve our customers’ needs and reach global talent,
KNOWN ISSUES: Fire safety issues were found in the 40-year-old building, which previously housed a theater and restaurants, in 2019, last year and May, an official said Forty-six people died and 41 were injured in a building fire that raged out of control for hours overnight in Kaohsiung, authorities said yesterday. Flames and smoke billowed from the lower floors of the 13-story Cheng Chung Cheng (城中城) building on Fubei Road in Yancheng District (鹽埕), as firefighters tried to douse the blaze from the street and aerial platforms. The death toll rose steadily through the day as rescue workers searched the combined commercial and residential building. By late afternoon, authorities said 32 bodies had been found, while a further 14 people who showed no signs of life were among 55
RSS