The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 75 locally transmitted COVID-19 infections, the lowest daily count since the nationwide level 3 alert was issued last month.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the 75 local infections are 35 males and 40 females, aged from under five to over 80, and they began experiencing symptoms between June 8 and Sunday.
New Taipei City reported 38 cases, followed by Taipei with 22, Taoyuan with five, Miaoli County with three, Keelung and Taichung with two each, and Kaohsiung, Yunlin County and Changhua County with one each, CECC data showed.
Photo: CNA
The CECC also reported 20 deaths, 14 men and six women, who were aged from their 50s to their 90s, all of whom had underlying health conditions.
Of the 15 cases reported outside of Taipei and New Taipei City, the infection sources of all the cases had been identified, while contact tracing was being conducted.
While the situation is improving, wearing masks, washing hands and use of sanitizer must continue, Chen said.
The number of deaths remains high, but should fall in the coming days, he said.
Asked if the level 3 alert could be lowered on Monday next week, Chen said the issue is being discussed by various ministries and that the CECC would make an announcement when a decision is reached.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said that 11 of the 20 people who died had started having symptoms last month, and that the period between the onset of symptoms and death has extended to an average of 17 days.
Among the confirmed cases reported after April 20, 2,373 people, or 18.4 percent, had suffered severe pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome, Lo said, adding that 1,592 of them were aged 60 or older, or 35.4 percent of the confirmed cases in that age group.
There were 1,893 infected individuals being treated in designated COVID-19 hospital rooms as of noon yesterday, which is about 25 percent lower than the peak of 2,539 people on June 4, he said.
The number of infected patients in designated COVID-19 intensive care units has also dropped by 17 percent from a peak of 435 on June 7 to 383 as of noon yesterday, he added.
As significantly fewer COVID-19 patients had been hospitalized in the past week, the CECC has been moving some older infected people or those with underlying health conditions, who were in isolation in centralized quarantine facilities and enhanced quarantine hotels, to hospitals for better health monitoring, Lo said.
There are only about 1,270 people being isolated in centralized quarantine facilities and enhanced quarantine hotels, fewer than the number of patients hospitalized, he said.
Hospital and Social Welfare Organizations Administration Commission Director Wang Pi-sheng (王必勝), who on June 4 was assigned by the CECC to head a command center in Miaoli County after cluster infections were reported among workers at several electronics companies, said that the situation at the companies has been brought under control.
A total of 471 confirmed cases — 71 Taiwanese and 400 foreigners — had been found at eight factories and 26,250 tests had been performed on employees in the past 18 days, Wang said.
In related news, after a cluster of 45 infections associated with Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co had been reported since May 14, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that the city government would administer COVID-19 vaccines to about 4,000 people associated with the company over the next three days.
However, vaccination is a preventive measure, not a treatment, and it would take at least two weeks for people to build resistance against the virus, Ko said, adding that contact tracing, testing and placing high-risk people in isolation would still be necessary to bring the outbreak under control.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)