The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday urged people to download the Taiwan Social Distancing App (臺灣社交距離) to help the nation’s efforts to trace COVID-19 transmission chains.
The highly transmissible Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 requires a more efficient approach to tracing contacts of confirmed cases, so the center would focus more on promoting the app, which notifies users when they had been near an infected person, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC.
The app, first introduced in May last year, was developed by the center and artificial intelligence developer Taiwan AI Labs.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Chen said that about 6 million people have downloaded the app, which is available for free for Apple iOS and Android devices.
The CECC hopes that the number of users would increase to more than 12 million, Chen said, adding that widespread use of the app would greatly help tracing contacts of cases who have visited mass events.
Taiwan yesterday reported 431 new domestic cases, the CECC said, adding that four of them have moderate symptoms.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
Yesterday was the 10th consecutive day with more then 100 new domestic cases, and the second straight day with more than 400 local cases.
Chen said that the daily case count might continue to climb, as fewer COVID-19 tests were conducted over the weekend.
Yesterday’s domestic cases were spread across 18 cities and counties, with New Taipei City reporting the highest number, 143, followed by Taipei with 67 and Taoyuan with 45, CECC data showed.
Pingtung County reported 31 cases, Keelung reported 28, Kaohsiung reported 26, Tainan reported 20, Yilan County reported 14, and Hsinchu and Hualien counties each reported 13 cases, it showed.
Taichung reported eight cases, Hsinchu City reported seven, Chiayi City reported six and Yunlin County reported three, while Miaoli, Nantou, and Chiayi counties each reported two cases, and Taitung County reported one case, the data showed.
Of the 3,546 domestic COVID-19 cases reported nationwide from Jan. 1 to Saturday, 12 had moderate symptoms, and two had severe symptoms, while the rest had mild or no symptoms, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
The four new cases with moderate symptoms were two men in their 60s and 80s who received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, a man in his 70s who received two doses and a woman in her 50s who is unvaccinated, Lo said.
The four cases are hospitalized with pneumonia, with some having reduced blood oxygen levels, Lo said.
The CECC defines severe cases as those with acute respiratory distress syndrome or septic shock, or those who are treated in intensive care units for any COVID-19 symptom, Lo said.
Those who have mild pneumonia or blood oxygen levels of less than 95 percent are classified as moderate cases, he said.
The CECC also reported 144 new imported cases, including 83 travelers who tested positive on arrival.
To date, Taiwan has confirmed 27,410 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 18,579 local cases, CECC data showed.
With no deaths reported yesterday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 fatalities in the country remained at 854.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at