Mon, May 16, 2022 page1

• COVID-19: Officials agree to ease curbs on contacts

  NO CONSENSUS YET: Local governments and the CECC have agreed to change the ‘3+4’ self-isolation policy, but are still mulling what to replace it with

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) and local governments have agreed to ease restrictions on close contacts of COVID-19 cases, although the details are still being discussed, the center said yesterday.

  The discussions follow Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Saturday approving a proposal to shorten the “3+4” policy — three days of home isolation followed by four days of self-disease prevention — for close contacts who have received booster doses.

  “We did not reach a consensus on how to revise the current restrictions, but we all agreed that the administrative burden must be reduced and the intensity of restrictions must be eased, so we will further discuss supplementary measures,” said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC.

  

  A medical worker administers COVID-19 vaccines at Taipei Railway Station yesterday.

  Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times

  As for the proposal to change the “3+4” policy to what Chen has called a “0+7” policy, he said that only one of the local governments wants to keep the “3+4” policy.

  Meeting participants had different opinions on whether a “0+7” policy should involve seven days of self-health management or self-disease prevention, or another option, for close contacts who have received a booster shot, Chen said.

  Some participants were also worried about a possible increase in infection risk if home isolation is totally removed, as previous cases have shown that a certain percentage of their close contacts tested positive during home isolation, he added.

  

  Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo courtesy of Central Epidemic Command Center

  Chen said he did not insist on either of the suggestions and would respect whatever decision is made, as long as all parties are willing to cooperate and implement the policy effectively.

  The CECC yesterday reported 68,732 local infections, 37 imported cases and 19 deaths.

  A total of 101 new moderate cases and 24 severe cases were reported, and a previously moderate case has become a severe case, Chen said.

  

  All 19 people whose deaths were confirmed yesterday were aged 65 or older with underlying health conditions, eight of whom were unvaccinated, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy chief of the CECC’s medical response division.

  Asked about a two-year-old boy with COVID-19 who died on Saturday in Keelung following emergency treatment, Lo said a non-family caregiver had contracted COVID-19 and was tested at the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Keelung Hospital after developing symptoms on Thursday.

  He returned home to rest, as his body temperature and blood oxygen level were normal, Lo said.

  The boy tested positive on Friday and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance after developing a fever and having convulsions, he said.

  The toddler had a fever of 42.4°C, rapid breathing and a fast heart rate, he added.

  A doctor of pediatric infectious diseases at the hospital suspected that the boy had viral encephalitis and suggested that he be referred to another hospital, so the Keelung Health Bureau helped transfer the boy to Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) at about midnight.

  Although medical personnel at the Keelung hospital’s emergency room had given the boy an intravenous infusion, antibiotics and anticonvulsive drugs before he was transferred to TVGH, he died at about 8am on Saturday, he said.

  The cause of death was COVID-19 with acute encephalitis and multiple organ failure, he said.
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