Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday promoted the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) from a “level 2” to a “level 1” government entity to streamline communication and better contain the spread of COVID-19, while Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) would continue to serve as head of the center.
Chen at the weekly Cabinet meeting suggested that Su promote the CECC to a “level 1” entity, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said, adding that Su accepted the suggestion and reappointed Chen as head of center.
With the COVID-19 outbreak escalating around the world, “the best defense for Taiwan is a good offense, which is the front line of disease prevention to preempt a major outbreak,” Su said.
Photo: CNA
Despite its proximity to China, the nation has been able to restrict COVID-19 to “minor community outbreaks,” mostly contagion within families, which shows that Chen is the most fitting candidate to serve as CECC head, Kolas said in response to queries as to why the premier had chosen Chen instead of himself for the job.
The promotion to “level 1” would facilitate the distribution of resources and communication between relevant government agencies, whose deputy ministers would be required to be on standby at the CECC at all times to attend regular meetings, Kolas said.
Chen told a later news conference that he had made the suggestion after seeing other nations accumulate more than 1,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in less than five days.
Chen thanked Su for having faith in him and pledged to take preemptive measures to contain the coronavirus.
Hospitals are to set aside more wards to be used as isolation wards in the case of an emergency, Chen said, adding that this would likely increase the nation’s capacity to screen the disease to 2,450 people per day starting next week.
Earlier, with the Tomb Sweeping Holiday approaching, Su ordered government agencies to inform Taiwanese businesspeople and students returning from affected nations and regions to monitor their health at home for 14 days upon their arrival.
They should be informed upon boarding their flights of the penalties they would face if they leave home during the quarantine period, he said.
Su also approved a plan by Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) for the nation to set up an extra 30 mask production lines.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs is carrying out a plan to add 60 production lines by March 10, which would bring the nation’s daily production to about 10 million masks, Small and Medium Enterprise Administration Director-General Ho Chin-tsang (何晉滄) said.
The 30 extra lines would further boost the nation’s mask production to between 12 million and 13 million per day, Ho said, without giving a time frame for when the additional lines would be completed.
Additional reporting by Lin Hui-chin
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS