The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced five crowd control measures for traditional and night markets as it reported 335 locally transmitted COVID-19 infections, eight backlogged cases and 36 deaths.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the 335 new local cases are 189 males and 146 females, adding that they developed symptoms from May 24 to Saturday.
The eight backlogged cases are three men and five women aged 20 to 70, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
They began experiencing symptoms on Tuesday and Wednesday, he said.
As most of the pending cases due to delayed test results or reporting have been cleared, the center would no longer report backlogged cases, he added.
Of the 343 local infections reported yesterday, 160 live in New Taipei City, followed by Miaoli County with 75, Taipei with 64 and Taoyuan with 16, he said, adding that the high case count in Miaoli is mainly due to cluster infections at electronics companies there.
Yilan County reported nine cases; Kaohsiung, as well as Hsinchu, Changhua and Yunlin counties, reported three new cases each; Keelung, Taichung and Tainan reported two cases each; and Chiayi City reported one new case.
The dead are 22 men and 14 women, aged 50 to 100, Chen said.
They began experiencing symptoms from May 7 to Tuesday and died from May 27 to Wednesday, he said.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Chuan-neng (林全能) said his ministry has been negotiating with local governments on how to tighten crowd controls at traditional or night markets, adding that they agreed on five measures.
“The first would be expanding crowd controls to include roadside vendors around the markets,” he said, adding that business hours and traffic control sections would be clearly designated inside and near the markets.
“We also encourage people to change their shopping habits, prepare a shopping list before heading to the market and finish shopping in less than an hour,” Lin said. “Do not stay too long and do not form a crowd.”
Entrances and exits would be controlled, and shoppers would be required to provide contact information at entry and exit points, he said, adding that on-site measures would be taken to limit the number of shoppers and ensure social distancing.
Local district or township offices should dispatch more personnel to help implement the measures and conduct inspections at the markets, while local governments would ask police officers to fine illegal street vendors, Lin said.
Chen said that about 70,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine would be distributed to local governments after examinations are completed this week, adding that they would be offered to high-risk healthcare professionals in the first priority group, of which about 30 percent, or about 70,000 people, have not received a vaccine shot.
A batch of 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine donated by Japan, which is undergoing examination, would first be offered to frontline workers in the first to third priority groups who are at risk of being directly exposed to the virus, he said.
Priority would next be given to people aged 75 or above and people on dialysis, followed by essential personnel at critical facilities, and in critical industries and national defense, Chen said.
The examination is expected to be completed by Friday and the shots might be ready to be administered on Wednesday next week, he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique