Representatives from several groups yesterday gathered outside the Centers for Disease Control’s office in Taipei to urge the government to protect the nation’s medical staff and resources as the fight against the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak continues.
In a joint statement, groups including the Taiwan Labor Union of Laboratory Medicine and Biotechnology and the Taiwan Young Pharmacists’ Group thanked front-line medical staff for “sacrificing themselves for the fight and defending the public from the threat of the novel coronavirus.”
“As users of the [National Health Insurance system], we know that this convenient and beneficial world-class healthcare service is the result of the healthcare system working together from top to bottom,” the groups said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
“Since the outbreak of the [2019 novel coronavirus], Taiwan’s epidemic prevention system has faced a serious challenge,” they said. “Without the epidemic prevention personnel and various government agencies working together, Taiwan might have already become a severely affected area.”
The groups said that more than 220,000 people have signed a petition listing four demands to the government.
The petition calls on the government to guarantee that medical staff would have sufficient infection prevention supplies.
The government should be in control of who boards chartered flights carrying evacuees from China and give priority to citizens with “urgent needs,” and Taiwanese medical staff must be present on those flights, the petition reads.
The government should not be rash in chartering flights, the petition said, urging authorities to assess the nation’s healthcare capacity and to accept evacuees in “batches.”
The nation only has 1,100 negative pressure isolation rooms, the groups said.
Taiwan Young Pharmacists’ Group executive director Heyman Li (李懿軒) urged the public not to hoard surgical masks.
Leave supplies to those in greater need, such as front-line medical staff, he said.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
RSS