The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday issued a level 2 “alert” travel notice for eight European and two Middle Eastern countries, as well as a level 1 “watch” notice for 16 other European countries as it confirmed a new case of COVID-19 infection in a Taiwanese woman who on Sunday returned from the UK.
The coronavirus outbreak in Europe is getting worse, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
The CECC had already issued a level 3 “warning” travel notice — avoid all nonessential travel — for Italy and a level 2 “alert” notice — practice enhanced precautions — for France, Germany and Spain, he said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
“We are issuing a level 2 ‘alert’ travel notice for Iceland, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Austria, effective as of today,” he added.
“Also, a level 2 travel notice has been issued for Bahrain and Kuwait in the Middle East, as they have the same level of risk,” he said.
“We are also issuing a level 1 ‘watch’ travel notice for Greece, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Finland, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Hungary, Luxemburg, Malta, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, the UK and Ireland,” whose citizens can move freely within the Schengen area, Chen said
People arriving in Taiwan from these countries are required to practice self-health management for 14 days, the center said.
Chen said that the latest confirmed case — the nation’s 48th — is woman in her 30s living in northern Taiwan.
The woman visited a friend in the UK from Feb. 28 to Sunday, Chen said.
She sought medical treatment at a clinic for dizziness and a headache on Monday, went to hospital the next day after she developed a mild fever and a cough, and was reported for testing, he said, adding that the results came out positive yesterday.
The woman mainly stayed at home after returning from the trip, Centers for Disease Control Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said.
Nine people who have had close contact with her in Taiwan have shown no symptoms, Chou said, adding that a contact investigation is being carried out.
In related news, the Regulations Governing the Compensation for Periods of Isolation and Quarantine for Severe Pneumonia with Novel Pathogens (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎隔離及檢疫期間防疫補償辦法) was promulgated on Tuesday.
Under the regulations, people who are placed under mandatory 14-day home isolation, home quarantine or have asked for disease-prevention family care leave due to COVID-19-related policies can apply for compensation of NT$1,000 per day up to a maximum of NT$14,000 for 14 days.
The budget allocated for the compensation is expected to cover about 130,000 people.
Chou said that the number is only an estimate, adding that an actual epidemic situation is difficult to predict accurately.
The quarantine orders would not stop if the number exceeds 130,000 people, he added.
Asked about concerns that some people might travel abroad with the aim of being placed under home quarantine to receive compensation, Chen said such offenses would be punished in accordance with the law.
As for the center’s online mask purchase program, Chen said that people can start ordering masks from 9am today at the Web site emask.taiwan.gov.tw.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
COMPLIANCE: The SEF has helped more than 3,900 Chinese verify documents, indicating that most of those affected are willing to cooperate, the MAC said More than 3,100 spouses from China have submitted proof of renunciation of their Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The National Immigration Agency has since April issued notices to spouses to submit proof that they had renounced their Chinese household registration on or before June 30 or their Taiwanese household registration would be revoked. People having difficulties obtaining such a document can request an extension of the deadline or submit a written affidavit in lieu of it. The council said it would hold a briefing at 2:30pm on Friday at the immigration agency’s Taichung office in cooperation with the
The government-funded human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is to be expanded to boys at junior-high school starting in September, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. The Taiwan Society of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Taiwan Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Taiwan Immunization Vision and Strategy, the Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan, the Taiwan Head and Neck Society, the Formosa Cancer Foundation and the National Alliance of Presidents of Parents Associations held a joint news conference in Taipei yesterday to raise public awareness about the risks of HPV infection, regardless of gender. Invited to give an address, HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun
RSS