Government-funded polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and rapid COVID-19 tests should be made available for more people to effectively curb the outbreak in communities, the New Power Party (NPP) said yesterday.
A PCR test costs more in Taiwan than in other countries, NPP Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said, citing a Consumers’ Foundation survey.
Since June 27, the fee has dropped from NT$5,000 to NT$3,500 at hospitals funded by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, but that is expensive for most people, Chiu said.
Demand for PCR tests would only grow as people must present a negative result when, for example, returning to the workplace or seeking medical treatment, he said.
While the fee must drop further, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) should examine expanding eligibility for government-funded PCR tests, Chiu said.
“People in high-risk groups must regularly take PCR or rapid tests to ensure that they have not contracted the virus, but it would be a huge financial burden if workers or employers were required to pay for tests out of pocket,” he added.
The central government should consider that in Canada, the authorities provide firms with more than 200 workers free rapid test kits, while corporations in the UK can register online for kits, he said.
Although Taiwan’s capacity for processing PCR tests is 50,000 to 90,000 per day, the nation still has room for improvement when compared with Japan, South Korea and Singapore, Chiu said.
Meanwhile, the CECC should make PCR tests mandatory for those who have had close contact with COVID-19 patients when they are to be released from quarantine, given that there were cases in Chiayi where people tested negative before they started quarantine, but tested positive before leaving the facilities, Chiu said.
Although the nation’s COVID-19 outbreak has shown signs of easing, confirmed cases in Taipei and New Taipei City remain in the double digits, NPP Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) said, adding that isolated community infections with unknown sources are still being reported in southern Taiwan.
“This shows that there remain hidden transmission chains that have yet to be identified,” Wang said, adding that the CECC should examine implementing antibody screening tests in hotspots to identify hidden transmission chains and asymptomatic cases.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
RSS