The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 27 new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections and 17 deaths, and said it was working toward conditionally lowering the level 3 alert on Tuesday next week.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said there were also two imported cases — Taiwanese who returned from the US and Indonesia.
Of the local infections, 15 tested positive during quarantine or upon ending quarantine, and the infection sources of 17 cases had been identified, while 10 cases were being investigated, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
Fourteen cases were reported in Taipei, 11 in New Taipei City, and one each in Changhua County and Pingtung County, he said.
The number of cases reported in COVID-19 hotspots in Taipei and New Taipei City has been falling, while the hotspots have become relatively safe after expanded testing and isolation, he said.
“Based on the current COVID-19 situation, if we can thoroughly implement preventive measures and have good response capability, we can head toward opening up, under certain restrictions, after July 13,” Chen said, adding that the final decision would hinge on the situation in the days leading up to Monday next week.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
The center is also discussing plans to allow dine-in service at restaurants under certain restrictions, but the main consideration of the center is to bring COVID-19 under control, while gradually letting people return to their normal lives, he said.
The two standards for issuing the level 3 alert in May were having more than three clusters of infections in one week or more than 10 local infections with unclear sources reported in one day, but while there were no clustered infections and fewer than 10 local infections with unclear sources every day this week, the situation remains relatively unstable, Chen said.
Therefore, the center is assessing the standards required to carry out preventive measures and quickly respond to new infections, he said.
If dining-in at restaurants is allowed, preventive measures, such as social distancing, using table dividers and separate utensils, measuring body temperature and frequent disinfection would be required, and if restaurants failed to implement them they would only be allowed to provide takeout or delivery services, he added.
Meanwhile, Chen said that a new COVID-19 case has been confirmed to be linked to a cluster of infections of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 in Pingtung County.
The new case had tea with three previously confirmed cases on June 20 and also took the same vehicle to a centralized quarantine facility with two previously confirmed cases on June 26, he said, adding that the person tested positive during isolation.
No new cases were reported at three wholesale markets in Taipei with cluster infections, but a testing station near Huannan Market (環南市場) in Wanhua District (萬華) detected a case on Monday, so a testing station would continue to operate at Shuang Yuan Junior High School for local residents and market workers, he added.
Genome sequencing on a few cases linked to the First Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market and Huannan Market clusters showed that they were infected with the Alpha variant of SARS-CoV-2, Chen said.
The center also reported 17 deaths, 14 men and three women who were in their 40s to their 90s.
Fifteen had underlying health conditions.
To date, 706 people have died of COVID-19 in Taiwan, 694 of them since May 15.
Additional reporting by CNA
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