Taipei healthcare workers and disease prevention personnel who have come into close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case can continue working without being placed in isolation as per a new policy, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday while visiting a COVID-19 care center in Zhongshan District (中山), on the day the policy took effect.
Exposed personnel who have received a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine can remain at work under a plan that includes continual testing, said Ko, who was released from home isolation at midnight that day.
A rapid test is to be performed each morning before starting work, he said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The Taipei City Government on Wednesday established 12 COVID-19 care centers throughout the city, providing comprehensive care services for the increasing number of confirmed cases who are isolating at home, and people who are under home quarantine.
“There are about 2,900 people quarantined or isolated at home in Zhongshan District alone,” he said. “If there is a confirmed case at the care center, it might cause workers to be isolated and the center’s operation to be halted. Who will provide care services for more than 2,000 people?”
Included in the policy are health department officials, police officers, firefighters and environmental protection department officials, who are all considered by the city to be disease prevention personnel, Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said as she visited a care center in Neihu District (內湖) yesterday morning.
Huang was also released from isolation at midnight.
The policy could be expanded to include public transportation employees, wholesale market workers and school faculties, she said.
The city is to discuss with the central government today whether rapid tests for healthcare workers and other personnel should be conducted daily or every two days, Taipei City Government Deputy Spokeswoman Vivienne Wei (魏文元) said.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
PROCEDURE: Although there is already a cross-strait agreement in place for the extradition of criminals, ample notice is meant to be given to the other side first Ten Taiwanese who were involved in fraud-related crimes in China were extradited back to Taiwan via Kinmen County on Wednesday, four of whom are convicted fraudsters in Taiwan. The 10 people arrived via a ferry operating between Xiamen and Kinmen, also known as the “small three links.” The Kinmen County Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said that four of the 10 extradited people were convicted in Taiwan for committing fraud and contravening the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), and were on the wanted list. They were immediately arrested upon arrival and sent to Kinmen Prison to serve their sentences following brief questioning, the office said.
‘REGRETTABLE’: Travelers reported that Seoul’s online arrival card system lists Taiwan as ‘China (Taiwan),’ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday urged South Korea to correct the way Taiwan is listed in its newly launched e-Arrival card system, saying the current designation downgrades the nation’s status. South Korea rolled out the online system on Feb. 24 to gradually replace paper arrival cards, which it plans to phase out by next year. Travelers must complete the electronic form up to 72 hours before entering the country. The ministry said it has received multiple complaints from Taiwanese travelers saying that the system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in dropdown menus for both “place of departure” and “next
PROBLEMATIC APP: Citing more than 1,000 fraud cases, the government is taking the app down for a year, but opposition voices are calling it censorship Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday decried a government plan to suspend access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書) for one year as censorship, while the Presidential Office backed the plan. The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday cited security risks and accusations that the Instagram-like app, known as Rednote in English, had figured in more than 1,700 fraud cases since last year. The company, which has about 3 million users in Taiwan, has not yet responded to requests for comment. “Many people online are already asking ‘How to climb over the firewall to access Xiaohongshu,’” Cheng posted on
RSS