The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced that a level 3 COVID-19 alert has been extended by two weeks until July 12, while it reported 104 locally transmitted cases and 24 deaths.
The alert was first issued in Taipei and New Taipei City on May 15, and expanded nationwide on May 19. It was originally due to end on Monday next week, but it was extended for the third time yesterday.
“The level 3 alert will continue to be implemented until July 12,” Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) told a news conference at noon.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
“Although the situation has improved during the alert period, it has not reached our goal yet,” said Chen, who heads the CECC. “Let us all continue to endure it for two more weeks and do our best to hopefully achieve a more stable situation after July 12.”
All of the restrictions remain the same, but six measures require enhanced implementation, Chen said.
The six measures include “conducting precise contact tracing” to identify close contacts and place them under isolation as soon as possible, he said, adding that it became more difficult to implement precise contact tracing and prompt isolation when local infections rapidly increased last month, but the situation has improved.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
Immediate isolation can reduce virus transmission within households, but it can be difficult to cut chains of infection if contact tracing to identify close contacts at workplaces or in social circles is not thorough, he said.
The second measure — mandatory testing of people ending home isolation or quarantine — was announced on Tuesday, while the third is accelerating vaccinations in high-risk groups to reduce infections, serious complications and deaths, he said.
The fourth is “wide screening,” which includes performing tests at local community stations or at companies, as well as the use of at-home test kits, which came on the market yesterday, he said.
The fifth measure is “improving treatment of serious cases of COVID-19,” including importing medication and having experts discuss treatment methods regularly, he said, adding that the last measure is launching a special health monitoring program for the daily necessities sector, mainly markets.
Reporters asked whether the alert extension was due to cluster infections that have been reported at several venues in Taipei in the past week, including 54 cases linked to Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co (台北農產運銷) and 47 cases at a long-term care center in Shilin District (士林).
The clusters were considered, but the decision was “not directly linked to them,” Chen said, although he added that contact tracing in response to the clusters was not thoroughly implemented.
Hopefully, accurate contact tracing and prompt isolation would be improved in the next two weeks, he said.
The CECC reported 104 local infections, 45 males and 59 females aged from under five to over 90, whose symptoms emerged between June 10 and Tuesday.
New Taipei City reported 45 cases, Taipei 22, Hsinchu County and Kaohsiung nine each, Taoyuan seven, Miaoli County four, Keelung three, Yilan County two, and Changhua, Nantou and Pingtung counties one each, CECC data showed.
Of the 24 deaths, 15 were men and nine were women, with their ages ranging from 40 to 90, the data showed.
All but one of them had underlying health conditions, the data showed.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), the CECC’s spokesperson, said that six people from Taiwan tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Xiamen, China.
Four of them were confirmed cases in Taiwan and had been released from isolation, while the other two tested negative more than once in Taiwan, Chuang said.
The CECC would conduct contact tracing to identify their close contacts in Taiwan, he said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
RSS