The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported five imported cases of COVID-19 and no new locally transmitted cases or deaths.
The five were arrivals from Eswatini, Russia, South Africa, Vietnam and the US, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
All have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine; one tested positive in Vietnam and returned to Taiwan on a medical charter flight, while the other four tested positive upon ending quarantine, CECC data showed.
“We are happy to see zero new local cases today, but we also observed the daily case counts for the whole month of August,” Chen said.
“Aside from a few days in which about eight or nine local cases were reported in a cluster of infections, the daily case count of local infections remained below five,” he said.
“The average daily count of local infections was 2.5 cases last month, which is a good sign, and we hope the situation will continue,” Chen said.
Asked about disease prevention efforts among the public over the four-day Mid-Autumn Festival long weekend, Chen said that some people were seen eating while walking in night markets, but those reports were less than for people seen not wearing a mask on beaches.
“We will need to collect more data to determine whether actions such as these have affected the local COVID-19 situation,” he added.
The center does not plan to tighten restrictions, despite tourist attractions being crowded over the long weekend, Chen said.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesperson, said surveys show that COVID-19 vaccination intention rates among high-school students are above 94 percent.
The surveys were conducted among students at schools in Taipei and New Taipei City asking about their willingness to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with vaccinations to begin on high-school campuses across Taiwan today, Chuang said.
The New Taipei City Government plans to complete its vaccination program on high-school campuses within a week, while Taipei plans to finish within two weeks, he said.
Meanwhile, the deadline for people to book a vaccination appointment for a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or a second dose of the Medigen vaccine in the ninth round of the national vaccination program ends at noon today, the CECC said.
As of 5pm yesterday, 83.9 percent of eligible recipients for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had booked an appointment and 72.4 percent of eligible recipients for the Medigen vaccine had booked an appointment, CECC data showed.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS