The crisis caused by a COVID-19 cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital is over, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, told a news conference in Taipei that the final polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on the hospital’s employees and contract workers had been completed.
A final testing project was launched 14 days after the last confirmed case linked to the hospital cluster had visited the hospital, he said, adding that 2,135 employees received PCR tests from Wednesday to Friday, all of which were negative.
By 12am yesterday, a special electronic flag on the National Health Insurance (NHI) cards of the hospital’s employees and patients who were ordered to undergo self-health management had been removed, Chen said.
The center had on Jan. 24 ordered that all people who were hospitalized at Taoyuan General Hospital between Jan. 6 and Jan. 21, and any accompanying family members, be placed under home isolation immediately.
It also announced that a special virtual flag would be placed on the NHI cards of all hospital employees and people who had sought treatment at its outpatient departments or emergency room after Jan. 6, so that healthcare facilities would be more cautious if they sought medical attention.
Chen yesterday said that the center’s command post at the hospital had completed its task and the crisis had ended, so the task of returning to normal operations would be handled by the hospital’s administration.
“Taoyuan is not an epidemic area,” Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said at the CECC’s news conference, adding that a safety net had been set up and the virus did not result in any confirmed cases with an unknown infection source, “so visiting Taoyuan is as safe as visiting any other place in Taiwan.”
At the news conference, Taoyuan General Hospital superintendent Hsu Yung-nien (徐永年) bowed and said that he represented the hospital in apologizing for the cluster infection that led to 20 confirmed cases, more than 4,000 people placed under isolation and panic among the general public.
However, the hospital has felt support and love from the public, as well as the support of top officials in the central and local governments, including Cheng, who called him every evening since the outbreak began to ask what the hospital needed, Hsu said.
He also thanked the hospital’s employees for bravely remaining at their posts and taking care of patients through the crisis.
Hospital and Social Welfare Organizations Administration Commission Director Wang Pi-sheng (王必勝), head of the CECC’s command post at the hospital, said that the center did not want to place the hospital on lockdown, so low-risk patients were sent out of the hospital, high-risk healthcare professionals were put in isolation, and patients and their family members who were possible risks were later put in home isolation.
Meanwhile, the center reported three new imported cases of COVID-19, an Indonesian student in his 20s; a Taiwanese in his 30s who worked in Ghana and transited in Dubai; and an American in his 40s.
They all reported that they had or were experiencing symptoms upon arrival, so they were tested at the airport and stayed at a centralized quarantine facility while awaiting the test results, Chen said.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under