Companies that sell thermometers that measure skin temperature and claim they can detect fever are breaking the law and would face fines of up to NT$25 million (US$892,953), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Monday.
Only forehead, ear, oral, armpit and rectal thermometers are approved by the government to measure body temperature and gauge whether a person has a fever, the FDA said.
The government has not approved for medical purposes devices that measure the temperature of the skin using an infrared tympanic thermometer, it said.
Skin temperatures detected by such devices, which are commonly incorporated into sanitizer dispensers at convenience stores, supermarkets and government agencies, can only be used as a reference, because the devices are not approved for medical use, the FDA said.
Hand temperature is easily affected by peripheral circulation or the environment, and varies significantly from true body temperature, FDA Medical Devices and Cosmetics Division specialist Lin Hsin-hui (林欣慧) said.
There are also no clinical trials that prove hand skin temperature is a valid determintor of whether a person has a fever, Lin said.
Importing, manufacturing or selling such devices for medical purposes is illegal, and those who do could face a jail term of up to three years and a fine of up to NT$10 million for contravening the Medical Devices Act (醫療器材管理法), she said.
Those who claim that the devices can be used to check for a fever can be fined NT$600,000 to NT$25 million, she said.
As most people who catch COVID-19 develop a fever in the initial stages of the infection, the FDA urged people to monitor their temperature with a thermometer approved for medical purposes.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS