President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday lauded Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) for his leadership of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) in containing COVID-19, while the the Changhua County Public Health Bureau’s testing of a teenager who had shown no symptoms after returning from the US sparked debate and a Department of Civil Service Ethics investigation.
Taiwan’s achievements in containing the COVID-19 pandemic so far show that a democracy can tackle the challenge without concealing cases, Tsai wrote on Facebook.
As the global pandemic remains severe, the nation needs the CECC to continue making professional and timely decisions, she said, adding that Taiwan needs solidarity and mutual support.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The center on Monday reported an imported case of COVID-19 — the nation’s 485th case — a Taiwanese teen who lives in the US and arrived on Aug. 5 for a family visit.
The teen had not shown any virus symptoms since his arrival, but on Saturday last week was tested by local health authorities, it said.
Asked why someone with no symptoms was tested, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), the CECC’s spokesman, on Tuesday said that Chen has instructed the ministry’s Department of Civil Service Ethics to investigate.
Photo: Liu Hsiao-hsin, Taipei Times
The purpose of the probe is to clarify the facts, Chen said on Wednesday.
Reiterating his position during a radio interview yesterday, Chen said he understands Changhua Public Health Bureau Director Yeh Yen-po’s (葉彥伯) position that scientific evidence supports testing people who have no symptoms, but the Changhua bureau should have informed the CECC first.
Chen said the Changhua bureau had conducted virus tests for hundreds of people under quarantine over the past six months without informing the CECC.
Speaking at the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) headquarters in Taipei yesterday, KMT deputy secretary-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said attempts online to discredit the Changhua bureau have damaged the morale of the nation’s frontline healthcare workers.
If the local and central governments have a difference of opinion regarding the handling of COVID-19, or procedures, the CDC should communicate with local health departments to understand the situation, instead of using the Department of Civil Service Ethics, she said.
“If director Yeh had not done this, perhaps no one would have discovered this case,” she added.
Asked whether Chen’s order to investigate Yeh was excessive, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) asked whether it was right for Yeh to order a person to break quarantine to be screened for COVID-19 and whether the move conformed to the CECC’s standard operating procedures.
Disease prevention efforts should be consistent from the central government down, he said, adding that the central government would back Chen’s decision.
Separately, Yeh said that when a person under quarantine needs to visit a hospital for COVID-19 testing, local health bureaus arrange a taxi or an ambulance for the person, as the central government only bans quarantined patients from taking public transportation.
If no taxis or ambulances are available, the person might need to drive to the hospital, while hospitals are asked to help keep track of their location, he said.
However, Yeh’s comments sparked debate over whether local testing procedures might differ from the CECC’s policies and create loopholes in disease prevention measures.
As Yeh also serves as chairman of the Taiwan Association of Medical Screening, some people question whether he tested the teen as part of promoting universal screening.
The association is irrelevant in this case, as it targets cancer and chronic diseases, Yeh said on Wednesday.
Yesterday, the CECC reaffirmed its policy of not adopting universal screening, as it rejected media reports that Taiwan plans to test all arrivals from 12 “high-risk” countries and regions.
The pandemic is still severe in many nations, so Taiwan pays close attention to the virus situation in “high-risk” countries and regions, and continues to weigh the feasibility of prevention measures against their effects, and weigh the threat of virus situations overseas against domestic disease prevention efforts, the center said.
However, there is currently “no specific plan” to test all arrivals, the center said, adding that any need for additional measures would be explained to the public.
Taiwan currently only tests all arrivals from the Philippines.
Additional reporting by Sean Lin and Chang Tsung-chiu
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS