The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 312 new local COVID-19 cases and called on local governments to implement disease prevention measures consistent with pandemic alert level 3 guidelines.
“The outbreak is still at its peak,” Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, told a news conference in Taipei, calling on the public to reduce nonessential travel over this weekend.
Next week is crucial to determine whether Taiwan’s measures to contain an accelerating outbreak of the virus centered in Taipei and New Taipei City have been successful, he said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Among the 312 new cases — 170 male and 142 female — the majority live in northern Taiwan: 144 in New Taipei City, 127 in Taipei and 13 in Taoyuan, Chen said.
He said that 107 of them had recently been to Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), adding that 73 had visited teahouses, six had links to a civic group, five had links to a fruit vendor and 24 had no traceable sources of infection.
The infection sources of 72 cases are unclear, and the source of 25 infections is under investigation, Chen said.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
The center on Wednesday raised the nationwide pandemic alert to level 3, following level 3 alerts imposed in Taipei and New Taipei City on Saturday last week.
Asked whether the CECC might raise the alert to level 4, Chen reiterated his previous statement that the center has no such a plan.
CECC guidelines prescribe that the alert should be raised to level 4 if an average of 100 daily cases or more is reported for two straight weeks, with half of them having no identifiable source.
Under a level 4 alert, most business activities would be suspended, as well as classes at schools, and people would be required to stay at home if not for essential activities.
New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) on Wednesday said that the city is adopting measures close to a level 4 alert, calling on residents to brace for tightened regulations.
Regarding whether to raise the alert level, the center also considers additional factors to assess the COVID-19 risk in Taiwan, Chen said yesterday, adding that only a quarter to one-third of the recently reported cases were not traceable.
Despite the center of the outbreak being in the north, the CECC aims to set consistent standards for the whole nation, as this would make disease prevention easier, he said.
Asked if the center would follow the Taipei and New Taipei City governments in implementing a ban on dining at food stalls in wet and night markets, as well as food courts at markets, Chen said that there is no need under level 3 alert guidelines.
Level 3 guidelines require eateries to record contact information of visitors, and if they are unable to do so, they can only serve take-out customers, Chen said.
The center yesterday also reported three new imported cases, arrivals from the US, the Philippines and Canada.
OPTIMISTIC: The DGBAS sharply upgraded its GDP growth estimate from 3.54 percent to 7.71 percent after the Taiwan-US trade agreement signing and given AI optimism The US imported more from Taiwan than China for the first time in decades, as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs reshape trade flows while a global boom in artificial intelligence (AI) fuels demand for tech products. US purchases of goods from China plunged almost 44 percent in December last year from 2024 to US$21.1 billion, US Department of Commerce data showed on Thursday. By contrast, shipments from Taiwan more than doubled during the same period to US$24.7 billion. The soaring Taiwanese shipments to the US reflect the huge expansion in supplies of chips and servers for AI companies, which has completely changed
NON-NEGOTIABLE: The US president’s action ran counter to one of the US’ ‘six assurances’ on not consulting China about arms sales to Taiwan, US lawmakers said US President Donald Trump’s admission that he is discussing arms sales to Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is “alarming and a blatant violation of US policy and the six assurances,” US Representative Ro Khanna said on Tuesday. Trump on Monday said he would decide soon on whether to send more weapons to Taiwan, after Xi warned him not to do so. “I’m talking to him about it. We had a good conversation, and we’ll make a determination pretty soon,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked about warnings raised by Beijing during a phone call with Xi over
The Central Election Commission has amended election and recall regulations to require elected office candidates to provide proof that they have no Chinese citizenship, a Cabinet report said. The commission on Oct. 29 last year revised the Measures for the Permission of Family-based Residence, Long-term Residence and Settlement of People from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民在台灣地區依親居留長期居留或定居許可辦法), the Executive Yuan said in a report it submitted to the legislature for review. The revision requires Chinese citizens applying for permanent residency to submit notarial documents showing that they have lost their Chinese household record and have renounced — or have never
US and Chinese fighter jets briefly faced off above waters near the Korean Peninsula this week, Yonhap News agency reported, marking a rare confrontation in that area between the two superpowers. About 10 US fighter jets on Wednesday departed an airbase in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, for drills above international waters off South Korea’s western coast, the news outlet cited unidentified military sources as saying. While the US planes did not enter China’s air defense identification zone, Beijing scrambled planes as they neared that region, the report said. “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army organized naval and air forces to monitor and effectively respond
RSS