A survey that checks for COVID-19 antibodies using samples from donated blood is legal, and the randomly selected donors are informed and can opt out, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
Some blood donors had questioned whether the survey breaches privacy and should require institutional review board approval, Chinese-language media reported yesterday.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is also the CECC spokesman, said the center on Feb. 20 announced that it has entrusted the Taiwan Blood Services Foundation to work with the CDC to conduct a COVID-19 serology antibody survey.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
The survey is conducted based on the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) and the Regulations Governing the Implementation of the Epidemiological Surveillance and Advance-Alert System for Communicable Diseases (傳染病流行疫情監視及預警系統實施辦法), he said.
The foundation would randomly select 7,000 samples from blood donated from January to June this year, and test for antibodies for the nucleocapsid protein of SARS-CoV-2, which could indicate prior infection, Lo said.
The survey is a legitimate part of routine disease monitoring, not a research project, so it does not need approval by an institutional review board, he said.
The survey has an “opt out” mechanism, he said, adding that donors whose blood had been randomly selected would be informed and have the option to opt out of the testing.
Among the 2,400 blood bags donated in January and February that were selected for the survey, 24 donors chose to opt out, Lo said.
The randomly selected blood samples are anonymized and given pseudonyms before they are tested for antibodies, so the results cannot be linked back to individual donors, who also cannot be informed of the result, he said.
As some people questioned why the center did not inform them beforehand, Lo said the donors are informed before their blood is used for the test.
Not all donors of the more than 1 million blood bags expected to be donated in the six months would be informed, he said, adding that the foundation feared that it might slow down the donation process.
The center is grateful to most of the 2,400 blood donors who were informed about the test and agreed to their blood sample being used, he said, adding that the donations make it possible to monitor the infection situation in local communities as it changes.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
RSS