The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced a partial relaxation of the nation’s outdoor mask mandate as it reported zero new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases.
Starting tomorrow, people would no longer need to wear masks in certain outdoor areas as long as social distancing can be maintained, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
Individuals in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and animal husbandry sectors who work in open spaces, such as fields and fish ponds, as well as people visiting forests and beaches, would not be required to wear masks, he said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
However, they would still have to carry a mask with them, as they would have to put it on if there is a sudden surge of people, he added.
Masks became a requirement for those using public transportation in April last year. A comprehensive outdoor mask mandate was introduced after Taiwan’s COVID-19 alert level was raised to level 3 in May, amid a spike in locally transmitted cases.
The alert level was lowered to level 2 on July 27, and several exceptions to mask requirements have since been announced, such as when having a meal, or when driving alone or with family members in an enclosed vehicle.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Further adjustments of mask requirements concerning specific occupations and religious events are to be announced today, Chen said.
Meanwhile, yesterday was the fourth consecutive day that zero new domestic cases have been reported, and the second straight day with no deaths, CECC data showed.
However, there were six new imported cases: two Taiwanese and four foreign nationals.
All six had recently arrived in Taiwan and tested positive during quarantine, the CECC said.
To date, Taiwan has confirmed a total of 16,250 COVID-19 cases, of which 14,417 were domestic infections reported after May 15, when the country first recorded more than 100 cases in a single day.
However, since Aug. 15, the daily number of domestic cases has mostly been in the single digits, totaling 114, CECC data showed.
With no new deaths reported yesterday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths remained at 843, with all but 12 recorded since May 15, the data showed.
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
RSS