No new COVID-19 cases were reported yesterday, marking the 28th day with no domestic cases reported in the nation, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.
“Today is also Mother’s Day, so we would like to present our record of no domestic cases having been reported in 28 consecutive days as a gift for all mothers, hoping that everyone can feel safer,” said Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
However, people should not let their guard down and should thoroughly practice the “new disease prevention lifestyle” to achieve an even higher level of safety, he said.
Photo: CNA
“Our successful disease prevention performance against COVID-19 is attributed to the efforts of everyone living in Taiwan, as well as cooperation among the central and local governments,” he added.
The number of confirmed cases in Taiwan remains at 440, of whom 366 have been removed from isolation after recovering, Chen said.
With the hard work of healthcare professionals, Taiwan has achieved an 83 percent recovery rate for COVID-19, compared with a global average of 34 percent, he said.
The death rate of COVID-19 in Taiwan is about 0.3 per million population, against a global average of 36 per million population, he added.
Chen also said that people can preorder masks for children aged four or younger through the government’s online platforms or at convenience stores from Monday to Wednesday next week, and pick them up at convenience stores from May 25 to June 7.
The masks’ dimensions are 12.7cm by 8cm, he added.
The masks currently being sold at designated pharmacies, convenience stores, and on the government’s eMask Web site and Express mobile app are for adults and children aged four to eight.
The government on April 23 decided to supply smaller masks in response to complaints from parents nationwide about having difficulty finding masks for younger children.
Parents need to provide the details of their children’s National Health Insurance cards to buy the small masks, the CECC said.
A man surnamed Feng (馮) in New Taipei City has said that the children’s masks currently available are too big for his daughter and cover her entire face, adding that he has had to cut holes in the masks so that she could see when wearing a mask.
Another parent, surnamed Hung (洪), said that he visited 14 pharmacies, but could only find masks for older children, which are as big as adult masks.
Additional reporting by CNA
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify
BOLSTERING DEFENSE: The explosive is 40 percent more powerful than those in use and could be deployed for Hsiung Feng II and III missiles, a government source said The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has developed a polycyclic nitroamine explosive, commonly known as CL-20, which is the most powerful non-nuclear explosive known, a government source said yesterday on condition of anonymity. The institute has significantly improved explosive and rocket propellant research and development in recent years, the source said. A new factory was established in June 2022 with NT$540 million (US$16.6 million) in equipment installed, the source said. A central complex that would house 50-gallon (189 liters) and 300-gallon (1,136 liters) explosive mixer machines, as well as a storage device, was constructed in the factory, the institute said. The explosive is