National Taiwan University (NTU) College of Public Health should explain why it on Sunday evening suddenly canceled a presentation planned for today to report the “mid-term” findings of its mass COVID-19 antibody survey, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
The college and the Changhua Public Health Bureau launched the project on June 11 to conduct blood tests on 10,000 people from five high-risk groups in the county to screen for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.
The bureau had announced that it would present a “mid-term report” on its preliminary findings today, while the final results were expected to be announced next month.
Photo: CNA
Local media early this month reported that the survey had found people with antibodies in all five groups.
However, college professor Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權), a member of the project, on Sunday evening said that the presentation would be delayed indefinitely, citing unfinished administrative work.
Chan yesterday wrote on Facebook that antibodies are defensive weapons remaining in the body of a patient after the immune system has fought off pathogens, so the information provided by them are crucial “disease prevention assets” that can help people win the battle against COVID-19.
The project conducted with the bureau is similar to a seroprevalence survey on specific groups of people conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify people who have antibodies against COVID-19, he wrote.
The serology test in the county involved 3,517 healthcare practitioners, 827 close contacts of confirmed cases and 18 confirmed cases, 4,230 people who had been under home quarantine, 30 home caregivers, and 1,500 elderly people and people working at long-term care centers, Chan wrote.
A positive test result means that the individual was infected some time in the past, has recovered and is not contagious, he added.
College professor Tony Chen (陳秀熙), another member of the project, said as the survey is an academic research project, it should undergo peer review before the results are published.
Chan’s remark of not having enough time to finish administrative work refers to him handing over the post of college dean to the incoming dean, Chen said.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is also the CECC’s spokesman, said that bureau Director Yeh Yen-po (葉彥伯) has informed the center that the presentation was canceled.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, is of the opinion that the results should be released, as the survey has become a topic of public concern, unless there are specific reasons not to publish them, Chuang said.
In other developments, Chuang said that the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Department of Civil Service Ethics has completed the first phase of a probe into the bureau for conducting polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on people under quarantine, even though they had no symptoms.
The first phase includes interviews with the people who were asked to take the tests and an investigation into the process of getting tested, Chuang said, adding that the second phase would take five days and include clarifying the bureau’s policy execution.
Meanwhile, the CECC is considering requiring foreign nationals who have been placed in quarantine after arriving in Taiwan to undergo mandatory PCR testing at the end of the quarantine period at their own expense, but the policy is still being discussed and a decision has not been made, he said.
Separately yesterday, the Ministry of Education said that new university students from countries and regions besides the 19 from which foreign students are already allowed, as well as Chinese students enrolled in degree programs, can apply to enter Taiwan.
The new policy is expected to affect about 10,000 foreign students, it said.
Additional reporting by Sherry Hsiao
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