Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said she is the director of the city government’s COVID-19 prevention response team, so she has the best overall grasp of the virus situation in Taipei, and that Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has not been informed of all the details.
Huang was responding to a series remarks Ko and Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), head of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), had made on whether more details about a confirmed COVID-19 case should be publicized.
The CECC is still investigating who has been in contact with the nation’s 24th confirmed case — a woman in her 60s in northern Taiwan, who has not traveled overseas in the past two years — and her daughter and granddaughter, who were also confirmed to have COVID-19.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Ko has repeatedly called for the area in which the woman lives to be revealed to the public to prevent further panic.
However, Chen said that local governments have been informed of all cases, and revealing the details of cases might cause stigmatization and trigger more panic.
Ko on Saturday said that he had not been informed of the details.
“I am the only person who knows,” Huang said yesterday, adding that she reports to Ko about the city’s epidemic situation, but does not necessarily share all the details with him.
Whether the nation’s 24th case is locally transmitted or not, the city government would enhance disease prevention and control measures to prepare for possible local transmission of COVID-19 in Taiwan, she said.
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