The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 40 local COVID-19 cases, but said that the increased case count did not correspond with higher infection risk, as 33 of them tested positive during isolation.
The Taoyuan and Kaohsiung city governments yesterday announced that all preschools in the two municipalities would postpone their reopenings until after the Lunar New Year holiday to Feb. 14.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that all new local cases were in the two municipalities — 30 in Taoyuan and 10 in Kaohsiung — and as 33 of them tested positive for COVID-19 during isolation, they did not pose a higher infection risk.
Photo: Kaohsiung Department of Health via CNA
Nine cases in Kaohsiung were linked to a Kaohsiung Harbor cluster, including six who tested positive during isolation, he said.
The remaining case — a mother of an infected preschool child, who tested positive when accompanying the child during isolation — was linked to a cluster first detected at a hotel in Yilan County, he said, adding that the Yilan cluster is gradually being brought under control.
Twenty-five of the Taoyuan cases were linked to a cluster at the Farglory Free Trade Zone (遠雄自由貿易園區), he said, adding that they all tested positive upon ending isolation on Friday.
Photo: Chen Wen-chan, Taipei Times
Four Taoyuan cases were linked to a cluster at Re-Yi Distribution Service Co (日翊物流), and the remaining case was linked to a Chien Tu Hot Pot (錢都日式涮涮鍋) restaurant.
The case count linked to Re-Yi Distribution is still growing, despite no additional workers testing positive, Chen said, adding that the new cases are close contacts of workers.
They tested positive while in isolation, and might have posed an infection risk to the community, he said.
The CECC is closely monitoring a suspected cluster at three Kaohsiung quarantine hotels, from where all guests had been moved to centralized quarantine facilities, Chen said.
Guest who stayed at the hotels at the same time as confirmed cases would be asked to get tested and quarantine for another seven days, while those who stayed on the same floors would have to quarantine for another 14 days, he said.
The CECC has so far contacted 99 of the 198 guests listed, Chen said.
The center has ordered local health departments to look into cases who test positive with relatively high viral loads after being discharged from quarantine hotels where other guests at the time also tested positive, Chen said, adding that contact tracing and genome sequencing of such cases would be performed.
Separately, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) yesterday said they had jointly decided to order preschools in the respective cities to remain closed until Feb. 14.
The CECC also reported 32 imported cases, including 13 who tested positive upon arrival and 19 who tested positve while quarantining.
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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