A British man in his 70s on Wednesday became the ninth person, and first foreign national, to die of COVID-19 in Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
The man traveled from the UK on Dec. 18 last year to visit family, and had a sore throat and fatigue while in quarantine, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, told a news conference in Taipei.
The man was admitted to a hospital on Dec. 29 and tested positive for COVID-19 two days later, Chen said, adding that as his situation deteriorated, he had to be intubated and transferred to an intensive care unit.
He was put on extracorporeal life support, but due to organ failure and numerous infections, his condition failed to improve and he died on Wednesday, Chen said.
The man stayed in touch with his family in Taiwan and the UK while in the hospital, CECC adviser Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said.
The man had cardiovascular disease, which, compounded with his age, put him at higher risk of developing a severe case of COVID-19, Chang said.
Although the man was infected by a new variant of the COVID-19 virus first detected in the UK and believed to be more transmissible, the hospital could not conclude whether his death was related to the new variant, Chang said.
Data from other countries show that the new variant does not cause a higher mortality rate than previous strains, Chang added.
Four other COVID-19 patients in Taiwan who were also infected by the UK variant had mild cases of the disease and three have already been discharged, the CECC said.
The center yesterday also reported two new imported cases, from Indonesia and the US.
The case from Indonesia is a man in his 40s who traveled to Taiwan on Jan. 10 to work on a ship, the CECC said.
His employer arranged for him to be tested after he finished quarantine and self-health management, and his result came back positive yesterday, the CECC said.
As the only two people with whom he had contact were adequately protected, they would only be asked to follow self-health management protocols rather than having to enter quarantine, the CECC said.
The other case is an American woman in her 60s who traveled to Taiwan for business on Jan. 15, the CECC said.
She took a self-paid COVID-19 test on Wednesday, three days before she planned to return to the US, the results of which came back positive yesterday, it said, adding that 11 people with whom she had contact are in quarantine.
To date, Taiwan has recorded 919 cases of COVID-19, 805 of which have been classified as imported.
Of the total, 839 have recovered, nine have died and 71 remain hospitalized, CECC data showed.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS