An American man was yesterday confirmed as Taiwan’s 50th COVID-19 case, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said, adding that it would consider placing certain US states on the nation’s travel advisory list.
The coronavirus outbreak in the US has almost reached “a critical point” and Taiwan could issue a travel warning for the US, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
However, due to the size of the US, the center would issue the advisories at the state or regional level, he added.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Chen did not answer media queries on whether the US capital, Washington, and the states of Washington, New York and California would be listed first.
Taiwan’s newest case is an American office worker in his 50s who lives in central Taiwan and might have contracted the disease after hosting two American couples on Feb. 24, Chen said.
The man was on Saturday last week hospitalized in a quarantine ward after experiencing chills, coughing and a fever for more than a week, and his positive test result was confirmed yesterday, he said.
The man is enrolled in the National Health Insurance program, but the cost of his hospitalization would be covered by the central government per the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法), Centers for Disease Control Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said.
A CECC investigation found that one of the man’s friends had experienced chills, coughing and fatigue on the group’s arrival on Feb. 24, while their partner exhibited similar symptoms after leaving Taiwan on Feb. 26, Chen said.
A relative of the couple living in Seattle was on Tuesday confirmed to be infected, he said.
One member of the other couple also exhibited respiratory symptoms after leaving Taiwan, also on Feb. 26, he added.
Judging from his contact history, the 50th case was likely infected by his friends, Chen said, adding that while the man developed symptoms in Taiwan, the cause of infection was probably from abroad.
The CECC has identified 64 people who had contact with the 50th case, and it would continue to investigate the places the man and his friends visited while they were in Taiwan, he said.
Asked about the effects of a month-long lockdown of Manila on Philippine workers in Taiwan and Taiwanese in the Philippines, Chen said that while he is not sure about the severity of the situation, the outbreak in the capital, or even the entire nation, might be more serious than its confirmed cases imply.
The CECC would maintain communication with Taiwan’s representative office, travelers and businesspeople in the Philippines to obtain more information about the local situation, he said.
In related news, the 361 Taiwanese who were evacuated from China on charter flights earlier this week have all tested negative for the novel coronavirus, Chen said.
They remain housed in several quarantine facilities and the CECC would continue to monitor their health, he said.
The CECC said that it is developing an information system to monitor the whereabouts and health of people undergoing 14-day self-health management — a quarantine measure for people returning from countries or regions under a level 1 or 2 travel advisory.
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
LEAP FORWARD: The new tanks are ‘decades more advanced than’ the army’s current fleet and would enable it to compete with China’s tanks, a source said A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday. The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase. To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
RSS