The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced one new confirmed case of COVID-19, a man in his 50s who returned from Mexico the previous day, while identifying 23 people who have had close contact with the person.
The man said he had been working in Mexico since early February, and between June 17 and Monday last week, he had migraine, coughing, weakness in the limbs and a fever, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) told a news briefing in Taipei.
While the man had visited local medical facilities in Mexico, he had not been tested for COVID-19, Lo said.
Photo: Central Epidemic Command Center via CNA
The man said that he had felt better after seeking treatment, Lo added.
When the man arrived in Taiwan, he told immigration officials that he had been unwell over the past 14 days, Lo said.
He was placed in isolation after having samples taken, Lo said.
He had contact with 23 people, 11 of whom have been placed in home isolation, Lo said.
The 11 are a colleague of the patient and 10 passengers on the same flight, Lo said, adding that one other passenger had left the country and did not enter Taiwan.
The 11 crewmembers had adopted proper protective measures onboard and only need practice self-health management, he added.
As of yesterday, the nation had 448 confirmed cases, with seven deaths. They include 357 imported cases, 55 local infections and 36 cases reported from the navy’s supply ship Panshih (磐石), with only 10 remaining in quarantine, CECC data showed.
The CECC yesterday also amended a regulation requiring foreign visitors to present a medical report that says they are Sars-CoV-2 negative.
Since Monday, foreigners can apply to visit Taiwan for reasons other than tourism and regular social visits, but have to undergo 14 days of home quarantine when they arrive.
The amendment requires foreign visitors to present their medical certificates within “three working days” — instead of just “three days” — of their boarding time, Lo said.
The CECC understands that medical systems in different countries operate differently and people might have difficulty obtaining their reports before boarding, he said.
The change should prevent problems such as people unable to receive their report due to weekends or holidays, he said.
In other news, the three-day College Advanced Subjects Test is to be held from today to Sunday, with a new low of 43,753 students nationwide expected to take the exam.
Test-takers should wear masks throughout the exam, the College Entrance Examination Center said, adding that those who refuse to do so after being warned might be given zero points in their tests.
Students who are in home isolation or quarantine would take the exam from July 20 to July 22, it added.
Additional reporting by Rachel Lin
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
RSS