The government has decided to requisition 3 million N95 masks per month — the nation’s total monthly output — to ensure a stable supply for medical workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Ministry of Economic Affairs official said yesterday.
On average, medical workers in Taiwan use 30,000 to 40,000 N95 masks a day, and there are no worries at present about a shortage of supply, the official, who declined to be named, told the Central News Agency.
However, the government decided to go ahead and requisition the masks — 1.5 million every two weeks — on advice from the Centers for Disease Control to ensure the safety of medical personnel, the official said, without giving further details.
The four local companies capable of producing N95 masks have a combined capacity of 100,000 to 105,000 per day, the official said.
That capacity is projected to rise by about 20,000 units per day when one of the companies adds new production lines by the end of this month, the official said.
The government first requisitioned N95 masks, which can filter out at least 95 percent of airborne particles, on Feb. 6, according to a local mask supplier, and planned to requisition 2.1 million of them from Feb. 17 to March 17.
The N95 masks are more time-consuming to make than the regular masks that are widely used by most workers and other people.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) on Monday told reporters that N95 masks require four times the amount of melt-blown nonwoven fabric needed for a standard mask, of which Taiwan now produces 15 million a day.
Although enough of the raw material exists to produce both types of masks in their current quantities, Shen said the ministry would adjust the output of the masks based on the progression of the pandemic should the demand for N95 masks or regular masks rise sharply.
TRADE WAR: Tariffs should also apply to any goods that pass through the new Beijing-funded port in Chancay, Peru, an adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump said A veteran adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump is proposing that the 60 percent tariffs that Trump vowed to impose on Chinese goods also apply to goods from any country that pass through a new port that Beijing has built in Peru. The duties should apply to goods from China or countries in South America that pass through the new deep-water port Chancay, a town 60km north of Lima, said Mauricio Claver-Carone, an adviser to the Trump transition team who served as senior director for the western hemisphere on the White House National Security Council in his first administration. “Any product going
TECH SECURITY: The deal assures that ‘some of the most sought-after technology on the planet’ returns to the US, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said The administration of US President Joe Biden finalized its CHIPS Act incentive awards for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), marking a major milestone for a program meant to bring semiconductor production back to US soil. TSMC would get US$6.6 billion in grants as part of the contract, the US Department of Commerce said in a statement yesterday. Though the amount was disclosed earlier this year as part of a preliminary agreement, the deal is now legally binding — making it the first major CHIPS Act award to reach this stage. The chipmaker, which is also taking up to US$5 billion
High above the sparkling surface of the Athens coastline, the cranes for building the 50-floor luxury tower centerpiece of Greece’s future “smart city” look out over the Saronic Gulf. At their feet, construction machinery stirs up dust. Its backers say the 8 billion euro (US$8.43 billion) project financed by private funds is a symbol of Greece’s renaissance after the years of financial stagnation that saw investors flee the country. However, critics see it more as a future “ghetto for the rich.” It is hard to imagine that 10km from the Acropolis, a new city “three times the size of Monaco”
STRUGGLING BUSINESS: South Korea’s biggest company and semiconductor manufacturer’s buyback fuels concerns that it could be missing out on the AI boom Samsung Electronics Co plans to buy back about 10 trillion won (US$7.2 billion) of its own stock over the next year, putting in motion one of the larger shareholder return programs in its history. South Korea’s biggest company would repurchase the stock in stages over the coming 12 months, it said in a regulatory filing on Friday. As a first step, it would buy back about 3 trillion won of paper starting today up until February next year, all of which it would cancel. The board would deliberate on how best to effect the remaining 7 trillion won of buybacks. The move
RSS