People are banned from visiting patients in hospitals in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan until Feb. 9, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday, as it reported three imported cases of COVID-19.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that in response to a COVID-19 cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital, the center was tightening access and personnel controls at hospitals in the three cities, effective immediately.
The hospitals would not accept visitors for hospitalized patients and each patient can have only one companion, he said.
Photo: CNA
There are three exceptions to the ban, Chen said.
The first is if a patient is undergoing surgery or an invasive treatment, and needs to be accompanied by a family member, or if the law requires a consent form or document to be signed by a patient’s relative, he said.
The second is if the condition of a patient in an emergency room, intensive care unit or palliative care unit needs to be explained to family members, he said.
The third exception is when a patient’s health condition worsens or they need medical treatment, or when a patient has been hospitalized for a long period and the hospital has approved a need for having visitors, Chen said.
The CECC urged people to wear a mask at all times when visiting hospitals, practice good respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette, wash their hands thoroughly and frequently, and cover their nose and mouth with a tissue if they cannot wear a mask due to special conditions.
Chen said that 3,482 people associated with the hospital cluster have been placed under mandatory isolation, including 399 hospital employees, adding that 143 healthcare professionals completed 14 days of isolation yesterday, but they would need to test negative before they are released from the isolation order.
The healthcare professionals would be asked to stay at home after being released, and the hospital would arrange them into two groups to work in rotation to prevent infection, he said.
All hospital employees would be tested and the premises would be disinfected on Thursday next week, Chen said.
As many people have been put under isolation due to the cluster, and they are required to undergo testing upon ending isolation, several temporary testing stations have been set up outside designated hospitals, Chen said.
Asked about an 18-year-old woman in Taoyuan who had been placed under home isolation, but was found dead in her room yesterday morning, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said that she had a chronic disease, but added that samples would be taken for COVID-19 testing.
He said that the woman was hospitalized twice from Jan. 5 to Tuesday last week and from Thursday last week to Saturday, and a patient who stayed in the same hospital room as her was also a patient at Taoyuan General Hospital, so she was placed in isolation.
Chen said that three imported cases of COVID-19 were confirmed yesterday, including a Philippine migrant worker and a Burmese man, both in their 30s, who both tested positive in a paid test after completing 14 days of home quarantine.
The third case is a Taiwanese in her 40s who returned from the US on Sunday last week and developed a fever and diarrhea on Monday, he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique