Swimming pools, community colleges and learning centers for senior citizens are among a list of venues that are reopening today under an extended level 2 COVID-19 alert period, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported four locally transmitted COVID-19 infections and four deaths.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, on Friday announced that the level 2 alert would be extended for two weeks until Aug. 23, but that the CECC would take into consideration proposals on easing restrictions for some businesses and discuss them with concerned authorities.
Community daycare facilities, parent-child play centers, board game venues and vocational training centers are also resuming operations today, with strict instructions to follow disease control measures.
Photo: CNA
However, facilities that are to remain closed include study centers, as well as karaoke halls, discos, hostess bars, nightclub, pubs, MTVs, KTVs, tourist or audio-video parlors, gaming arcades, Internet cafes, mahjong clubs and similar venues.
As for sales of hot food in convenience stores, such as tea eggs and oden (關東煮), which many people have inquired about, Chen said that they would be allowed if the food products are pre-packaged or if store clerks can serve them to customers, instead of allowing customers to use tongs to choose the food themselves.
Swimming pools are reopening, but shower facilities, children’s splash pools, hot or cold springs, spas and saunas must remain closed, the CECC said.
Photo: Taipei Times
The general restrictions for a level 2 alert, such as wearing a mask at all times (except when eating) when outside the home, maintaining a social distance, contact information registration, and limiting the maximum number of people in gatherings to 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors, remain the same, it added.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), the CECC’s deputy head, said that when the alert level was lowered from 3 to 2 on July 27, national parks, national scenic areas and national forest recreation areas were reopened to the public, except for protected ecological areas within national parks, natural reserves and wildlife refuges in national forest recreation areas, but starting today these would also reopen.
That means some mountain camping sites will be open to the public, but campers must comply with the rule of one person per tent or only family members who live together can stay in the same tent, he said.
Of the four local COVID-19 cases reported yesterday, one tested positive during isolation, and contact tracing is being conducted to identify the sources of infection of the other three, the CECC said.
The four cases are males aged 30 to 60 — two from Taipei and one each from New Taipei City and Kaohsiung, Chen said.
The center also reported four imported cases — three from Malaysia and one from the US.
The four peoople who died of COVID-19 had underlying health conditions, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy chief of the CECC’s medical response division.
One of them is a woman in her 40s who had been hospitalized for stage 4 liver cancer since May 16, he said, adding that she was exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 case in the hospital, and tested positive for the disease on June 2.
The woman was asymptomatic, but later developed COVID-19-related symptoms, including pneumonia and respiratory failure, and died on Sunday, Lo said.
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
RESILIENCE: Deepening bilateral cooperation would extend the peace sustained over the 45 years since the Taiwan Relations Act, Greene said Taiwan-US relations are built on deep economic ties and shared values, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday, adding that strengthening supply chain security in critical industries, enhancing societal resilience through cooperation and deepening partnerships are key to ensuring peace and stability for Taiwan in the years ahead. Greene made the remarks at the National Security Youth Forum, organized by National Taiwan University’s National Security and Strategy Studies Institution in Taipei. In his address in Mandarin Chinese, Greene said the Taiwan-US relationship is built on deep economic ties and shared interests, and grows stronger through the enduring friendship between
CAUTION URGED: Xiaohongshu and Douyin — the Chinese version of TikTok — are tools the Chinese government uses for its ‘united front’ propaganda, the MAC said Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) yesterday urged people who use Chinese social media platforms to be cautious of being influenced by Beijing’s “united front” propaganda and undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty. Chiu made the remarks in response to queries about Chinese academic Zhang Weiwei (張維為) saying that as young Taiwanese are fond of interacting on Chinese app Xiaohongshu (小紅書, known as RedNote in English), “after unification with China, it would be easier to govern Taiwan than Hong Kong.” Zhang is professor of international relations at Shanghai’s Fudan University and director of its China Institute. When giving a speech at China’s Wuhan
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese
RSS