HEALTH
Blood reserves at 3.4 days
The Taiwan Blood Services Foundation on Wednesday called on the public to donate blood as blood banks’ reserves dropped to 3.4 days of supply on average, well below the official seven-day safe level. The foundation said type O blood was in shortest supply, with only 2.4 days left on average. It was followed by type A blood at 3.4 days, type B at 5 days and type AB at 5.1 days. The shortages were most critical in Hsinchu, where 2.4 days of supply were available on average, while 3.3 days were available in Taipei and Taichung, and 4.2 days in Kaohsiung, the foundation said. Taipei Blood Center planning division head Liu Chun-hong (劉俊宏) said his office received donations of only 12,000 bags of blood last week, down from an average of about 16,000. Liu said many people interested in donating blood were ineligible because they had a cold or recently returned from overseas. There has been increased demand for blood from people with cardiovascular disease complications amid colder weather, Liu said.
SECURITY
Liu Te-chin to join NSC
General Liu Te-chin (劉得金), a former inspector-general at the Ministry of National Defense, has been appointed deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council (NSC). Liu is to assume his new post on Wednesday, the Presidential Office said yesterday. Liu, who has received training at top military institutions in Taiwan and the US, retired as head of the ministry’s Inspector General’s Office last year. Prior to that, he had served as deputy chief of the Army Command Headquarters and head of the Huadong Defense Command.
FOOD
Cheese courses to start
The Council of Agriculture has designed mozzarella-making courses in an effort to bolster the nation’s nascent cheese industry. The Livestock Research Institute yesterday said it had developed “professional” and “simplified” versions of the course, adding that the professional version was designed for professionals at food manufacturers, while the simplified curriculum was designed for schools and organizations involved in food and agriculture education. Institute Director Huang Jeng-fang (黃振芳) said that feedback after pilot courses was extremely positive. The institute said that it designed the courses after it determined that food preferences have changed and a local cheese industry has begun to take root. Inquiries about the courses can be made to institute assistant researcher Yeh Jui-han (葉瑞涵) at (06) 591-1211 ex 2307.
HEALTH
FDA bans eucalyptus oil
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday said it would ban the use of oil or extracts from eucalyptus leaves in food or healthcare items from Jan. 1 next year. It said only trace amounts of the extracts would be allowed as a flavor enhancer, but not as a main ingredient. FDA food items division head Chou Pei-ju (周珮如) said lozenges containing trace amounts of eucalyptus extracts would be allowed, while eucalyptus oil capsules would be banned. The ban aims to prevent interactions with the substance, which is used as a herbal medicine and as an ingredient in some over-the-counter drugs, she said. Citing EU reports, Chou said that consuming large amounts of eucalyptus-derived products can cause toxic reactions.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
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