Infections have been newly confirmed at two more healthcare facilities, bringing the tally of facilities to five, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported 286 new domestic cases of COVID-19 and nine imported cases.
Transmissions of COVID-19 were newly identified at two Taipei healthcare facilities: Taipei City Hospital’s Heping branch and Tri-Service General Hospital’s Songshan branch, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) told the center’s afternoon briefing.
Transmissions were previously found at Far Eastern Memorial Hospital in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋), Renhui Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Kaohsiung’s Fongshan District (鳳山), and a hemodialysis clinic in Taipei, said Lo, who is deputy head of the center’s medical response division.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Yesterday, the center reported 295 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases — 286 local infections and nine imported cases.
Of the domestic cases, 155 were males and 131 were females, ranging in age from younger than five to older than 90, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
New Taipei City had the most locally transmitted cases at 157 — including 40 in Jhonghe District (中和) — followed by Taipei with 87 — including 40 in Wanhua District (萬華) — Taoyuan with 17, Yilan County with eight, Changhua County with six, Keelung with five, Kaohsiung and Taichung with two each, and Yunlin County and Hsinchu City with one each, the center said.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
The nine imported cases were six arrivals from the Philippines and one arrival each from the US, South Africa and Indonesia, it said.
The CECC also recorded one death from COVID-19, a woman in her 70s (case No. 2,683).
On Saturday last week, the woman, who had lived alone, worked in Wanhua and been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, developed weakness and fatigue, but refused to seek medical attention, the center said.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
On Sunday, she was identified through contact tracing as someone who needed to be tested for COVID-19, and on Monday, family members went to her home, but found her with no signs of life, the center said.
Yesterday, a dog care provider at the presidential residence was confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19, and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and all of the Presidential Office staff were given nucleic acid tests for SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, and the results all returned negative, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said.
The volunteer, who took care of retired service dogs, tested positive on Wednesday and was one of the domestic cases announced by the center yesterday, Chang said.
The volunteer last visited the Presidential Office on Tuesday last week from 9am to 5:40pm, but had not come into contact with the president, he added.
Additional reporting by CNA
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
RSS