The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) is considering advising hemodialysis centers, especially in Taipei and New Taipei City, to perform regular COVID-19 testing on their patients, it said yesterday, amid concerns about cluster infections at similar facilities with senior patients.
The frequency of the testing would be about once every one to two weeks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said at the center’s daily briefing in Taipei.
The CECC also wants special “buffer zones” or waiting areas to be designed to prevent people who are accompanying patients to their hemodialysis appointments from entering the treatment area and risking cross-infections, he said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Experts have discussed recommending that hemodialysis patients in Taipei and New Taipei City undergo a rapid COVID-19 test once a week, CECC expert advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said.
They have finished discussing the relevant procedures and are waiting for the proposal to be approved, he said.
If someone must accompany the patient into a center because the patient requires assistance, the other person should also be tested, he said.
However, patients with independent mobility would be advised against having someone accompany them to the clinics, he said.
Meanwhile, 180 people — including 47 staff members and 133 others — at various health and welfare facilities across the nation have been confirmed to have COVID-19, Lo said.
The cases are spread across 60 residential and nonresidential facilities, including 37 long-term care facilities, five nursing facilities, three psychiatric care or rehabilitation facilities and 15 social welfare facilities, he said.
Asked whether the CECC would consider raising the nationwide COVID-19 alert to level 4, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said he believed it was too early to discuss the move.
Imposing overly strict social restrictions might cause public fatigue to start too soon, and affect overall economic activity, he said, but added that the CECC would continue to discuss the alert level with experts.
A nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert started on May 19 is in effect until June 14.
On Wednesday, a total of 56,157 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered, said CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman.
As of Wednesday, 562,029 vaccine doses have been given since the nation began vaccinating people against the virus on March 22, center data showed.
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