People aged 65 or older who have tested positive for COVID-19 using a rapid test would be eligible for oral antiviral drugs prescribed by a doctor, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that after meetings with local governments and specialists over the weekend, they agreed that the administration of oral antiviral drugs to high-risk groups should be accelerated.
The center proposed that people aged 65 or older, despite not falling under the center’s “three conditions” — being under home quarantine, home isolation or practicing self-disease prevention — who test positive using an at-home rapid test for COVID-19 should also be eligible for oral antiviral drugs prescribed by a doctor, Chen said.
Photo: Reuters
“There were different opinions on whether they should be considered confirmed COVID-19 cases, but we reached a consensus that they should be eligible for the antiviral drugs, after seeing a doctor and receiving a prescription,” he said.
The policy would be implemented as soon as the supplementary measures are decided on by the center and local governments, Chen said.
After a local media outlet yesterday reported that the Executive Yuan and the center had been discussing late into the night on Saturday whether long-term care facility residents who test positive with a rapid test should be eligible for oral antiviral drugs, the CECC yesterday said that the policy had already taken effect on May 5.
Photo: CNA
After checking with the Executive Yuan, it confirmed that no such meeting was held on Saturday, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
Over the past few days, the number of oral antiviral drugs prescribed for COVID-19 has risen, and the center would continue to work on easing the procedures for prescribing them to more people, Chen said.
CECC data showed that 876 courses of Paxlovid and 149 courses of molnupiravir were prescribed on Saturday.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
RSS