Four guidelines define the level of self-protection that Taiwan must achieve before reopening its borders, which have been shut to almost all non-residents because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.
The guidelines are: sufficient COVID-19 vaccines; protection for communities, including masks and hand-washing; the capacity of hospitals and medical staff to fight outbreaks while caring for infected people; and sufficient medical supplies, Chen said in response to questions by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
The borders are closed to keep the pandemic at bay, a policy that is supplemented with a 14-day quarantine for arrivals, Chen said.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
However, depending on how the pandemic progresses in other nations, Taiwan’s policy might shift to focus more on self-protection, he said.
Tsai asked about the government’s strategy to obtain more vaccines.
Chen said that the government’s strategy has not changed.
Taiwan has researched its own COVID-19 vaccine through Medigen and while negotiations with other companies to have their vaccines manufactured in Taiwan have fallen through, talks are ongoing with others in the hope that such a deal can be made, he said, adding that the government is also looking into purchasing more vaccines.
Separately yesterday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) reported 12 new imported COVID-19 cases and one death, with no new domestic cases for the ninth consecutive day.
The 12 imported cases were seven males and five females aged 10 to 70 who arrived in Taiwan between Sept. 13 and Wednesday, the CECC said.
Four arrived from Myanmar, two from the US and one each from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and the UK, it said.
It was still investigating the travel origin of the remaining case, it said.
The person who died was a woman in her 40s with pre-existing conditions, it said.
Yesterday’s fatality brings the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Taiwan to 845. All but 13 of them have been recorded since the beginning of a surge in cases after May 15.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, told the CECC’s daily news briefing that gene sequencing had determined there was no link between a copilot infected with the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 and cluster infections in Pingtung County, Taoyuan and New Taipei City from June to last month.
Separately, a female junior-high school student who was comatose 11 days after receiving a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is in a stable condition and being treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said.
The student was diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammatory disease of the heart, after being admitted to a hospital, Taoyuan health officials said.
Asked about the student’s condition, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is CECC spokesman, said that she had reported no discomfort besides muscle pain in the three days following vaccination on Sept. 24, but developed a fever, shortness of breath and irregular heartbeat on Tuesday.
Cheng said the student’s reaction to the vaccine is considered severe.
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
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
RSS