The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said that it is assisting more than 80 Taiwanese citizens to return from India, but panned media reports that it had been against the idea.
Six staff members of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) in India have tested positive for COVID-19: two diplomats and four employees, with one of them having become seriously ill, the ministry said.
The TECC’s deputy director-general is reportedly one of the patients, although the ministry on Wednesday said that it could not give out the patients’ details out of consideration for their privacy.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
The ministry is in talks with insurance companies about transporting the patient who is experiencing more severe symptoms to a large hospital in a nearby country, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Larry Tseng (曾瑞利) told a news briefing in Taipei yesterday.
The TECC is overwhelmed with work, but the employees started working from home on Wednesday and are not to return to the office until Friday next week, Tseng said.
Employees aged 45 and older have received the first of two vaccine shots, but a plan to vaccinate employees aged 18 and older from Tuesday had to be postponed due to a lack of doses, Tseng added.
Photo courtesy of National Cheng Kung University Hospital
Of the Taiwanese businesspeople and travelers in India, 20 have tested positive for COVID-19: one died, nine recovered after treatment, two are hospitalized and eight are in quarantine, Tseng said.
Commenting on reports that the government should evacuate Taiwanese from India, Tseng said that such an action has greater diplomatic ramifications than people realize and should not be done lightly.
The government is assisting Taiwanese who wish to return, he added.
In a news release on Wednesday, the ministry denied a media report saying that it had allegedly decided on Monday to not evacuate Taiwanese from India.
The Chinese-language United Daily News had reported that the TECC suggested to MOFA that it evacuate all Taiwanese, but in a meeting on Monday, the ministry decided not to follow the recommendation.
MOFA and the TECC are assisting Taiwanese who wish to return by negotiating with airlines, the ministry said.
Due to the COVID-19 situation in India, all governments are assisting their citizens, the ministry said, adding that the governments are lining up the flights and their citizens are paying for their fares.
“No government has initiated evacuation measures, and an evacuation has never been part of the ministry’s or the TECC’s plans,” it said.
Since COVID-19 spread to India in March last year, the ministry has helped more than 750 Taiwanese return home by negotiating flights for them, it said.
After donating 150 oxygen concentrators to India, MOFA on Wednesday also marked the donation of 15 oxygen storage tanks by holding a ceremony that was attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and India-Taipei Association Director-General Gourangalal Das.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) is encouraging its employees in Taiwan and overseas to join a fundraising campaign that aims to donate 1,000 oxygen concentrators to India.
Additional reporting by Hung Yu-fang
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