Taiwan can be considered to have achieved “COVID zero” status, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday, despite the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) reporting 21 imported cases of COVID-19, the highest number of daily imported infections reported this year.
Chen, who heads the CECC, said no local infections or deaths were reported, but 21 imported cases were confirmed yesterday.
The imported cases are eight men and 13 women who arrived from Belize, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and the US, Chen said.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center.
The highest number of daily imported infections last year was 25 cases on March 23, he said.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said that among the 21 imported cases, nine were migrant workers from Indonesia and five Bangladeshi sailors.
The five sailors arrived from Singapore and tested negative upon arrival, as well as upon ending quarantine, but they tested positive in self-paid tests on Monday after completing self-health management, Lo said.
Photo: CNA
However, they had low viral loads and had developed antibodies against COVID-19, while four of them tested negative in a second test yesterday, so they were likely previous infections that pose a low risk to the local community, he said.
As no local infections have been reported for 33 consecutive days, which exceeds two 14-day incubation periods of COVID-19, Taiwan can be considered to have achieved “COVID zero” status, Chen said, adding that this was the result of everyone’s disease prevention efforts.
However, cases are rising in many parts of the world, so Taiwan is expected to report more imported cases this month, he said, urging the public to continue cooperating with the CECC and complying with disease prevention regulations.
Asked to comment on Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Lai Hsiang-ling’s (賴香伶) remark yesterday that there are still more than 5 million people who have not received a dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Chen said there are about 2 million children younger than 12 years old who cannot get vaccinated, while there are about another 2 million currently overseas.
After the CECC on Monday reported that 34,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine were due to expire yesterday, Chen said that about 15,000 doses still needed to be administered yesterday, but with various gifts and gift certificates being offered to encourage people to get vaccinated, the CECC was optimistic that the remaining doses would not go to waste.
Chen and CDC officials yesterday visited a temporary vaccination center at Taipei Railway Station offering the Moderna vaccine to eligible recipients along with a NT$100 gift certificate.
Chen said that 808 doses had been administered at the station on Sunday, followed by 2,001 doses on Monday, and the goal for yesterday was to provide more than 3,500 doses.
With the main hall of the station crowded with people lining up to get vaccinated yesterday afternoon, a large proportion of them migrant workers, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is CECC spokesperson, said people who lined up before 8pm would be guaranteed to get a dose.
The CECC also announced that people can get vaccinated at Banciao Railway Station’s visitor center between 4:30pm and 8pm until Friday, and that a gift certificate would also be offered.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would