The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislative caucus yesterday urged Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) to submit a self-review report on his COVID-19 prevention performance before he resigns to run for Taipei mayor.
The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Central Executive Committee yesterday nominated Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), as the party’s Taipei mayoral candidate.
TPP Legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) said that about 20,000 to 30,000 local COVID-19 cases are still being reported every day, but Chen is “running away” from his job without finishing it, which was irresponsible.
Photo: CNA
Chen in a question-and-answer session at the legislature on April 18 said he would not considering running in the local elections until Taiwan’s COVID-19 situation eases, Tsai said.
Video footage of the session shows Chen saying: “I have not considered it [leaving his post for the election] yet,” and “I am not thinking about it.”
TPP Legislator Chiu Chen-yuan (邱臣遠) said the CECC under Chen’s leadership has made many bad decisions, such as failing to obtain vaccines, rapid test kits and oral antivirals in a timely manner, and letting many locally made Medigen COVID-19 vaccine doses expire.
Chen had said he would “bear the responsibility” for shortening quarantine for Taiwan-based airline crew members to “3+11,” which opposition parties have said caused a local COVID-19 outbreak last year, but he has not apologized and is now leaving his responsibilities behind, Chiu said.
TPP legislative caucus office director Chen Wan-hui (陳琬惠), who is running for Yilan County Commissioner, said of a local government head should be trustworthy, responsible and put people first.
She asked whether Chen Shih-chunghas these traits, as he has not attended recent daily CECC news briefings, even though many COVID-19 cases are being reported every day.
Citing Chen Shih-chung’s Facebook post on Sunday saying “when responsibility comes, I will bear it,” Chen Wan-hui said that the TPP has held many news conferences over the past two years pointing out the CECC’s problems, but the center and the ministry have ignored them.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
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