Officials from the WHO were questioned on Thursday about Taiwan’s exclusion from the organization and its global disease prevention efforts amid escalating fears over the spread of a new coronavirus that originated in China.
At an international news conference after a two-day WHO emergency meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the deadly new coronavirus, the agency was asked whether it would consider accepting Taiwan as a member and would exchange information about the virus, as diseases know no borders.
WHO Health Emergencies Program executive director Michael Ryan said that the organization works “very closely with technical partners in China, Taiwan,” referring to Taiwan.
Photo: AFP
He said that during the SARS outbreak in Taiwan in 2003, the WHO provided technical support to Taiwan.
“Nobody would deny necessary public health assistance in that situation,” Ryan said.
He added that he believes Taiwanese authorities were working very closely with those in China.
“I believe there have been joint missions and joint approaches to the response, so I would characterize, from our perspective, that there is technical cooperation going on between provinces in China, and between WHO and any of those entities that seek our assistance,” Ryan said.
Taiwan was excluded from the two-day meeting, which was attended by all other countries that had reported cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
Taiwan was not invited to attend, a decision that drew wide criticism of the world body.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Wednesday urged the WHO not to exclude Taiwan from global efforts to contain the virus, and called on China to fulfill its responsibility as a member of the global society by providing adequate information to Taiwan about the disease’s spread.
As of Friday, a total of 168 suspected cases of the new coronavirus had been reported in Taiwan. Three were confirmed as having the virus, while 42 cases were ruled out, the Central Epidemic Command Center said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
EARTHQUAKE: Taipei and New Taipei City accused a construction company of ignoring the Circular MRT’s original design, causing sections to shift by up to 92cm The Taipei and New Taipei City governments yesterday said they would seek NT$1.93 billion (US$58.6 million) in compensation from the company responsible for building the Circular MRT Line, following damage sustained during an earthquake in April last year that had shuttered a section for months. BES Engineering Corp, a listed company under Core Pacific Group, was accused of ignoring the original design when constructing the MRT line, resulting in negative shear strength resistance and causing sections of the rail line between Jhonghe (中和) and Banciao (板橋) districts to shift by up to 92cm during the April 3 earthquake. The pot bearings on
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
RSS