Treating migrant workers who have tested positive for COVID-19 also protects Taiwanese from infection, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said on Sunday.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, made the remark when asked why the government is spending an estimated more than NT$86 million (US$3.01 million) on medical treatment for 108 Indonesian migrant workers with COVID-19.
When he was asked whether it is reasonable for the government to spend so much on their medical fees, Chuang said providing medical treatment for them is safeguarding the public’s health.
Photo: CNA
The CECC on Sunday reported 20 confirmed cases among Indonesian migrant workers, bringing the total number of people from the country who have tested positive for the disease to 133, surpassing the previous high of 116 imported cases from the US.
The average medical cost for treating each confirmed COVID-19 case is about NT$2.1 million, but the majority of the migrant workers, who are young and have had mild or no symptoms, were hospitalized for shorter periods of time than those with more severe cases of COVID-19, so the average medical cost has been about NT$800,000 per person, Chuang said.
As COVID-19 is a category 5 notifiable communicable disease, the cost of treating the disease can be paid out of a government budget allocated for COVID-19 prevention, Chuang said, adding that allowing them to enter the workforce after ensuring they have fully recovered from the disease can prevent others from becoming infected.
Migrant workers are important to the nation’s social welfare services and other industries, and they can continue to work after recovery, so there is nothing inappropriate about treating them, he said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) yesterday wrote on Facebook that given the seriousness of the disease, the law permits the government to order infected people to be isolated for treatment, and based on the principle of equal rights, it should be responsible for paying for mandatory treatment.
In related news, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has deemed a controversial mass COVID-19 antibody study in Changhua County to be a breach of the Human Subjects Research Act (人體研究法), Department of Medical Affairs Director-General Liu Yueh-ping (劉越萍) said yesterday.
The Changhua Public Health Bureau and National Taiwan University public health researchers conducted the study from June to August, Liu said.
The ministry could fine the Changhua Public Health Bureau up to NT$1 million, but the final amount would be announced in two weeks, she said.
The Ministry of Education would have to decide whether to fine the university’s College of Public Health, she added.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS