More than 2.2 million masks bearing the “Carry mask” logo had been returned as of Wednesday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported one new imported case of COVID-19.
From Friday last week, people who had purchased masks bearing the words “Carry mask” through the government’s mask rationing program could exchange them for new masks at National Health Insurance (NHI)-contracted pharmacies and public health centers.
The CECC had initially said that the masks could only be exchanged through today, but Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, on Wednesday said that people would still be able to exchange them past the original deadline.
Photo: CNA
From Friday last week to Wednesday, 2,230,825 masks bearing “Carry mask” were returned, the center said.
On Wednesday alone, 175,082 masks were returned, including 159,962 in New Taipei City, 6,914 in Taipei and 4,332 in Yilan County, it said.
With regards to a company named Haw Ping Co (豪品) that is suspected of passing off non-medical masks imported from China as medical masks made in Taiwan, Chuang said that the center had so far not discovered any cases of the company’s imported masks entering the government’s rationing program.
Meanwhile, the CECC said that a new case of COVID-19 had brought the total number of confirmed cases in the nation to 496.
The nation’s 496th case is a Taiwanese man in his 60s who returned from Indonesia alone on Friday last week, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC spokesman, told a news conference in Taipei.
The man had traveled to Indonesia in February for work, he said.
He did not have any symptoms upon arrival and went directly to a quarantine hotel after entry, Chuang said.
On Monday evening, the man developed symptoms including a fever and a runny nose, and reported to health authorities the following day to help arrange medical care, Chuang said.
The man has been hospitalized, he added.
The man traveled to Taiwan on the same flight as Case No. 492 — a Taiwanese woman in her 30s who was confirmed to have COVID-19 on Saturday — but was not seated in the two rows in front or behind her, the center said.
As of yesterday, Taiwan had recorded 496 cases of COVID-19, including seven deaths, CECC data showed.
Fourteen patients remained hospitalized, the center said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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