The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday said it would delay the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, citing public health considerations and ongoing discussions on how the policy should be implemented.
Earlier this week, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said officials from several ministries were working on the policy and an announcement would be made yesterday.
However, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, yesterday said that the policy was still under review.
Wang said its implementation would be “delayed slightly” due to three main factors.
First, the center has registered an increase in hospital bed occupancy after the Lunar New Year holiday, likely due to an increased number of heart attacks and strokes amid cold weather, he said.
Even though many of the new hospitalizations were not COVID-19-related, there has been a slight “tightening” of available hospital capacity, he said.
CECC data showed that 2,894 of the country’s 5,609 hospital beds, or 51.6 percent, were occupied.
The second factor is that easing the mask mandate would affect multiple sectors of Taiwanese society and has to be adequately communicated with all stakeholders beforehand, Wang said.
Mask regulations in schools would have to be defined, he said, adding that the new term starts at most schools on Feb. 13.
Wang said the CECC is still collecting feedback on the draft policy from various parents’ and teachers’ groups.
The third reason is that COVID-19 case numbers have rebounded over the past few days, most likely because of underreporting during the Lunar New Year holiday, he said.
Even though the increase would likely be temporary, the CECC “wants to observe [the case numbers] for a few days to see if they begin to drop or stabilize,” he said.
Asked when he expects the CECC to announce the policy, Wang said it would depend primarily on the “resolution” of the three factors, but the center would “not necessarily” wait until the school term starts.
Wang said a “major announcement” would be made in May.
If Taiwan downgrades COVID-19’s communicable disease classification as planned, the CECC could be downgraded or deactivated entirely, he added.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to