No new cases of COVID-19 were reported yesterday, marking the 27th consecutive day without new domestic cases in Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
CECC specialist advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said that 66,460 suspected cases have been reported from Jan. 15 to Thursday, and 440 have tested positive for the disease.
Among the infected patients, 308 (70 percent) were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, 96 (21.8 percent) had pneumonia and 36 (8.2 percent) had serious pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome, he said.
Photo provided by the Central Epidemic Command Center via CNA
A total of 361 patients (82 percent) have left isolation after testing negative three consecutive times, 352 (80 percent) have been discharged from hospitals, 82 (18.6 percent) remain hospitalized and six (1.4 percent) have died, he said.
Chang said that among 24 patients who had or have depended on ventilators, as of yesterday only three remain on ventilators, and one still requires extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
No COVID-19 cases have been detected among medical practitioners and long-term care facility workers, he said, adding that expanded criteria for testing them were implemented on March 30.
“It is likely that the total number of cases [in Taiwan] would remain about the same, with maybe a few sporadic imported cases still being reported,” Chang said.
“With COVID-19’s 14-day incubation period, if no new case has been detected in local communities for two incubation periods — 28 days — from a public health perspective, we could view our communities as safe,” he said.
Taiwan has an infection rate of about 18.6 confirmed cases per 1 million people and a death rate of about 0.3 deaths per 1 million, which are lower than Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries, Chang said.
The infection rates in several European countries and the US are higher than 3,000 cases per 1 million, he added.
In other news, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that as spectators at CPBL baseball games on Friday were well-behaved in practicing personal disease prevention measures in the first two games opened to the public, the CECC is considering raising the maximum number of spectators per game from 1,000 to 2,000.
Additionally, Department of Medical Affairs Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said that from yesterday, regulations for visitors to intensive care units, hospices and palliative care units in hospitals have been relaxed, allowing for a maximum of two visitors per hospital bed in a given visiting period.
Each hospital would determine the visiting hours, and hospitals are required to control the flow of visitors and implement disinfection measures, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS