The level 2 COVID-19 alert would be extended for two more weeks until Sept. 6, but some restrictions would be eased, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday, as it reported two local and eight imported cases, as well as one death.
As the local COVID-19 situation has improved, but sporadic local infections with unclear infection sources are still being reported, the level 2 alert would remain in place, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC.
Places that would remain closed include leisure businesses, such as dance halls, pubs, nightclubs, KTVs, gaming halls, video arcades and mahjong parlors, he said.
Photo: CNA
The maximum number of people allowed at indoor gatherings would be increased to 80, and the maximum for outdoor gatherings raised to 300, Chen said, adding that a disease prevention plan must be submitted for gatherings exceeding those numbers.
People eating at restaurants who live together would no longer need to be separated by table dividers, be seated in a checkerboard arrangement or have food served separately for each person, he said.
People would be allowed to visit hospital patients in intensive care units, hospice and palliative care divisions, respiratory care wards, psychiatric divisions and pediatric wards, or patients who have a mental impairment, are in a critical condition or have been hospitalized for seven days or more, Chen said.
Study centers, indoor amusement parks, recreational fishing spots and beaches would be allowed to reopen if they can comply with disease prevention guidelines, he said.
People would be allowed to swim, snorkel and carry out other other activities at the beach, as long as they wear a mask when they are not in the water, Chen added.
Currently, only limited activities that allow social distancing, such as scuba diving, are permitted.
Other general rules would remain the same, such as wearing a mask in public, except when eating and drinking; mandatory contact tracing and social distancing; and crowd control and capacity limits in businesses and public venues — 1.5m apart (2.25m2 per person) indoors and 1m apart (1m2 per person) outdoors, the CECC said.
Wedding banquets and public memorial ceremonies must comply with the Ministry of the Interior’s disease prevention measures, while making toasts at each table is still banned.
Meanwhile, Chen said that the two new local cases were a man in his 40s and a woman in her 50s, both residents of New Taipei City.
The infection source of one is unclear and contact tracing is ongoing for the other, he said.
Of the 14,698 cases reported between May 11 and Thursday, 13,581 people, or 92.4 percent, have been released from isolation, he said.
Recent daily case counts have been low, and the testing positivity rate has been lower than 0.01 percent for some time, sometimes as low as 0.004 percent, indicating that the local COVID-19 situation is under control, Chen said.
However, people should remain vigilant as sporadic cases have been reported, and prompt contact tracing and isolation measures should be conducted, he said, adding that the global COVID-19 situation is serious, so even strict border controls cannot protect against the virus forever.
The global COVID-19 situation, local vaccine coverage and the efficacy of vaccines against new variants are all aspects that need to be considered when keeping the level 2 alert in place, he said.
Yesterday’s eight imported cases were from Albania, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Africa and the US, and they arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday last week, CECC data showed.
A man in his 60s, who had underlying health conditions, died from COVID-19, the data showed.
Separately yesterday, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said the city has earmarked NT$2.8 billion (US$99.97 million) for 2.5 million doses of COVID-19 booster shots.
The city council would need to vote on the proposed budget, he added.
Responsibility for procuring doses for the first and second jabs rests with the central government, he said, adding that the type of vaccines to be used for the boosters would be determined by science.
Additional reporting by Tsai Ya-hua and CNA
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
RSS