The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported no new cases of COVID-19, while expressing its gratitude to mask manufacturers for meeting domestic demand and producing extra for nations in need.
Yesterday marked the 51st day without a domestic case being reported, while 427 infected people have recovered and been released from isolation, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
About 100,000 new cases are diagnosed around the world every day, so as Taiwan gradually eases disease prevention regulations, everyone must continue to practice personal protective measures, he said.
The center would continue to bolster the nation’s medical preparedness and responsiveness, but the healthcare system has achieved its three main goals in the fight against COVID-19, Chen said, while Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) added that the goals were “reducing the speed of virus transmission,” “safeguarding core personnel to maintain healthy healthcare operations,” and “reducing severe cases and deaths.”
“To slow the spread of the coronavirus, turnaround for test results and hospital admissions for people with confirmed infections must speed up, so the CECC is continuing to expand testing capacity — the nation now has 45 designated testing facilities that can conduct 5,900 tests per day, with the results available in 24 hours,” Hsueh said.
There are 4,169 hospital beds — 963 negative pressure isolation wards, 1,031 isolation wards and 2,175 specialized wards — that can be used for confirmed cases, Hsueh said, adding that there are also 27 centralized quarantine facilities and temporary negative pressure isolation chambers that can be set up for additional admissions.
To prevent the healthcare system from becoming overwhelmed, the center needed to maintain a certain number of healthy healthcare practitioners — as they are the most important front-line defense — so it announced in late February the controversial ban against healthcare personnel traveling abroad, he added.
So far, 10,194 healthcare practitioners have applied for government compensation following the policy, claiming about NT$82.39 million (US$2.75 million), Hsueh said, adding that if all of these people had been put under a 14-day quarantine after returning from abroad, it would have had a considerable effect on facility staff.
Although a mask might seem small, they have made a considerable contribution, Chen said, adding that all local mask manufacturers and distributors successfully completed their mission, and contributed to the nation’s outstanding fight against the coronavirus.
Domestic production of surgical and medical masks increased from 2.71 million per day in late January — when the government began requisitioning masks and having military personnel help in mask factories — to 19.11 million per day as of Sunday, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said, adding that 114 assembly lines were added in four months.
Since Feb. 6, about 700 million masks have been sold through the real-name mask purchasing system, while the stockpile of requisitioned masks is still more than 350 million, Wang said.
More than 22 million masks have been provided to healthcare practitioners, while the CECC has also provided a sufficient number of N95 respirators and protective clothing to them, Wang added.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS