The Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday launched a new pandemic response strategy to mark the government’s departure from a “zero COVID-19” policy.
The revised strategy — billed as the “new Taiwanese model” and authorized by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) at a meeting earlier in the day — would no longer focus on total suppression, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) told a news conference in Taipei.
The shift in priorities was prompted by the nature of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, which produces milder to no symptoms in infected people, to mitigate health risks to communities, reduce the burden on the medical system and maintain a normal life, Chuang cited Su as saying.
Photo: CNA
Only five people who have contracted COVID-19 this year developed moderate or severe symptoms, while 99.7 percent reported mild or no symptoms, Su said.
This means that health officials can shift gears to mitigating the effects of the pandemic, but the new model is not the same as “living with COVID-19,” as the virus would not be allowed to spread unchecked, Su said.
The strategy is to be implemented under the principle of allowing people to live normal lives, active prevention of the virus’ spread and a stable reopening of the economy, striking a balance between maintaining public health and economic well-being, he added.
Photo courtesy of the Tainan City Government
More incentives should also be offered to encourage people to take a third COVID-19 jab, he said, adding that the public’s ability to remain vigilant and take necessary measures to protect their health is a key part of the new model.
Meanwhile, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 531 new cases of COVID-19 — 382 domestically transmitted and 149 imported.
The local case count exceeded 100 for the seventh consecutive day and was the highest daily number this year, breaking the previous high of 281 recorded on Wednesday.
New Taipei City had the most cases at 111, followed by Taipei with 87 and Kaohsiung with 59, the CECC said.
Of the 149 imported cases, 78 were travelers who tested positive on arrival, it said.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) announced plans to procure additional supplies of the antiviral COVID-19 drug Paxlovid from Pfizer.
While Paxlovid is hard to get hold of, the government plans to procure at least 100,000 more courses, Chen told a legislative committee meeting, adding that negotiations with Pfizer were ongoing.
Earlier this year, Taiwan signed a deal with Pfizer to procure 20,000 courses of Paxlovid, with the first batch — 3,200 courses — arriving on Jan. 27, Chen said, adding that about 15,000 courses have yet to be delivered.
Taiwan has ordered a combined total of 25,000 courses of Paxlovid and Molnupiravir from drugmaker Merck, he added.
The CECC is to hold discussions next week on guidelines for people with light symptoms to quarantine at home, Chen said.
There are several issues that need to be addressed before such a policy can be implemented, he said, citing as an example how patients can receive appropriate care during home quarantine.
Although Taiwan has a smart healthcare platform in place, providing remote health services on a large scale is an issue, he said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS