The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday voiced concern for the health of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and his wife, who have tested positive for COVID-19, and said the government is donating medical supplies to the ally nation.
Upon learning of the couple’s diagnosis, the ministry immediately relayed the concerns of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) about their health and wished them a speedy recovery, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement.
Hernandez expressed his gratitude for their concern, she said.
Taiwan has donated a batch of supplies to Honduras, including masks, N95 respirators, protective outfits, nucleic acid analyzers and testing agents for the novel coronavirus, quinine pills, thermal imaging systems and forehead thermometers, she said.
Officials have also shared the nation’s experience of fighting the disease with Honduras via videoconferences, Ou said, expressing the hope that Hondurans would resume normal life soon.
In a televised speech on Tuesday, Hernandez said that he “was diagnosed as having been infected with COVID-19,” Reuters reported yesterday.
He said that over the weekend he began feeling some discomfort and on Tuesday he received the test results.
“I also inform you that two of our collaborators and my wife, Ana, have been positive, but all three are already undergoing treatment,” he said, adding that his wife is asymptomatic.
“It is true, I feel mild symptoms, but since I started my treatment, I feel better,” he said.
The Honduran government said that Hernandez is being treated in isolation, while his wife is self-quarantining at home.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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