The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday confirmed three new imported cases of COVID-19, arrivals from Canada, the US and Poland, bringing Taiwan’s total to 958 cases.
A Taiwanese man in his 20s who was studying in Canada provided a required negative COVID-19 test result and had no symptoms before entering Taiwan on Friday last week and beginning quarantine, but on Sunday, his sense of smell changed and he had a runny nose, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, told a news briefing in Taipei.
He sought treatment and was tested for COVID-19 at a hospital, and the result returned positive yesterday, Chen said.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
Health authorities have identified 21 people who had contact with the man, including 17 cabin crew members and four passengers on his flight to Taiwan, Chen added.
A Taiwanese woman in her 50s who in November last year flew to the US to visit relatives had a negative COVID-19 test result and entered Taiwan on Friday last week, but she had an itchy throat on Monday, he said.
She was tested that day and the result returned positive yesterday, Chen said, adding that one contact had been identified and was quarantining at home.
The third case was a Polish man in his 40s who had a negative COVID-19 test result and entered Taiwan for work on Feb. 18, but his sense of smell changed on Monday, Chen said, adding that he was tested that day and the result returned positive yesterday.
There were no contacts to trace because the man had been in quarantine since his arrival, he added.
Of Taiwan’s 958 COVID-19 cases, 842 have been classified as imported. Although nine people with COVID-19 have died and 23 remain hospitalized, 926 people have recovered, CECC data showed.
Yesterday, the center changed the COVID-19 risk assessment for Australia from low-to-moderate risk to low, allowing short-term business travelers from the country to further shorten their quarantine period.
In Taiwan, business travelers from countries with an assessment of low-to-moderate or low risk can apply to have their 14-day quarantine shortened, as long as they pay to take a test for COVID-19 when they finish and the result returns negative.
Those from countries with a low risk of contracting COVID-19 can apply to have their quarantine end on the fifth day after their arrival, while those from countries of low-to-moderate risk can apply to have it end after seven.
The center has assessed New Zealand, Macau, Palau, Fiji, Brunei, Laos, Nauru, East Timor, Mauritius, the Marshall Islands, Bhutan and Australia to be of low risk.
The center has listed Singapore, Vietnam and Cambodia as being of low-to-moderate risk.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
China Airlines Ltd (CAL) yesterday morning joined SkyTeam’s Aviation Challenge for the fourth time, operating a demonstration flight for “net zero carbon emissions” from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Bangkok. The flight used sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a ratio of up to 40 percent, the highest proportion CAL has achieved to date, the nation’s largest carrier said. Since April, SAF has become available to Taiwanese international carriers at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Kaohsiung International Airport and Taoyuan airport. In previous challenges, CAL operated “net zero carbon emission flights” to Singapore and Japan. At a ceremony at Taoyuan airport, China Airlines chief sustainability
RSS