The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported a domestic case of COVID-19, associated with a recent cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital, and two imported cases.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the latest case (No. 885) is a woman in her 50s, who is the third daughter of case No. 881, a man in his 90s.
The woman is the main caregiver of her elderly father, who had been hospitalized earlier this month and was treated by a nurse (case No. 852) from Monday to Thursday last week, he said, adding that the nurse tested positive on Saturday last week.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
Chen said that the woman tested negative on Jan. 11 and Sunday last week, and had been placed in home isolation with her father and two older sisters.
As the woman’s father and her eldest sister (case No. 882) were confirmed to have COVID-19 on Friday, she was tested for the third time and the result came back positive yesterday, he said, adding that contact tracing is being conducted.
The eldest sister visited Taoyuan’s Chungping evening market (仲平黃昏市場) on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the exact times are being investigated, Chen said.
He urged people who visited the market on those two evenings to practice self-health management until Feb. 3, saying that they should wear a mask and seek medical attention or call the center’s 1922 hotline immediately if they develop COVID-19-like symptoms.
The middle sister tested negative on Jan. 11, on Sunday last week and on Friday, so she would not be tested again unless she shows symptoms or if it is necessary when she completes isolation, Chen said.
He said that 967 people associated with the hospital cluster, including 403 hospital employees, have been put in isolation — the largest group of people in Taiwan to be placed in isolation since the outbreak of COVID-19.
A large “firewall” has been built — by putting people who have been exposed to confirmed cases under isolation — in an effort to contain the virus, Chen said, adding that the cluster would be deemed under control if new cases are among individuals “inside the firewall.”
However, if new cases are found “outside the firewall” and the possible infection source cannot be traced, the situation would become an urgent concern, he added.
Of the two imported cases reported yesterday, one was a British teenager who tested positive in the UK on Dec. 28 last year.
He self-isolated for 10 days and provided a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) result obtained within three days before boarding a plane to Taiwan, and arrived on Wednesday, Chen said.
He did not have symptoms during quarantine, but after he was tested on Thursday in a special project for travelers from the UK, his result came back positive yesterday, he said.
The other was a US student, who arrived in Taiwan on Dec. 31 last year, Chen said, adding that she had provided a negative PCR result from Dec. 24 last year, but she tested positive in a paid test on Thursday after completing 14 days of quarantine at a hotel.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS