National Taiwan University (NTU) on Friday said that its COVID-19 prevention efforts could serve as an example to others and help prevent further infections.
University vice president Chou Chia-pei (周家蓓) said that the school established a task force on epidemic prevention, created a list of people to contact in the event of an outbreak and transitioned 1,150, or 17 percent, of its courses online.
“We have deployed an automated temperature monitoring system at all seven entries and exits to the campus and as a university policy, denied visitors entry unless they were students or had emergencies, cutting down traffic entering the university by 50 percent,” she added.
The temperature monitoring system was designed by NTU College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science professor Liu Jen-sen (劉振森).
In its current iteration, the system uses devices with an antenna and Bluetooth capabilities to strengthen data transmission, as well as an LCD screen and a warning signal, making it more efficient than previous versions, the university said.
Although the university could open the campus as early as May 18, that decision would depend on the state of COVID-19 in Taiwan, NTU Office of General Affairs vice president Louis Ge (葛宇甯) said.
Visitors would still need to have their temperature taken and register their names at entrances, Ge said.
Department of Chemistry assistant professor Hsu Cheng-chih (徐丞志) said that academia could help the public and governments worldwide.
In February, The Economist featured data Hsu gathered from entering various scenarios into a model to estimate the spread of COVID-19.
Hsu is also part of a group of NTU professors and Canadian experts on the NTU COVID-19 research group, which is collaborating with the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The group had developed a biosafety level 2 laboratory using mass spectrometry methods to inspect virus antigens and the serum antibodies.
Department of Geography chair Wen Tzai-hung (溫在弘) said that without a system to track its students, one case of COVID-19 could have infected the entire campus within a day.
To prevent that, the department overlaid known areas of infections on maps of the campus, creating a computer simulation of when and where people have come close to areas of known infection, he said.
The research shows that the university’s response to the pandemic — reducing traffic and automating temperature taking — was critical to minimizing the spread of the virus, he said.
The university is tomorrow to hold a meeting to decide whether to relax restrictions, Chou said.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS