Taoyuan General Hospital, the site of a recent cluster of 21 COVID-19 infections, partially reopened yesterday, more than a month after the cluster’s first case was confirmed.
“We were attacked by the virus, but we managed to contain it,” Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said during a reopening ceremony at the hospital. “The central and local governments achieved this together.”
The infections of a doctor at the hospital, who treated a COVID-19 patient, and a nurse — the doctor’s partner — were confirmed on Jan. 12, followed by 19 more cases, including medical staff, patients, patients’ family members and a caregiver.
Photo: Chou Min-hung, Taipei Times
The infections linked to the hospital led to the mass evacuation of patients, which began on Jan. 19, followed by the disinfection of the facility.
One of the cases, the mother-in-law of an infected nurse at the hospital, died on Jan. 29 — Taiwan’s ninth COVID-19-related death since the nation reported its first case on Jan. 21 last year.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said that the hospital would run at reduced capacity for outpatient and inpatient services, but accept emergency admissions.
Photo: CNA
A review would be carried out to assess whether the hospital can increase capacity after March 1, he added.
The hospital’s COVID-19 ward is to be upgraded to an intensive care unit for COVID-19 patients in serious condition, he said.
Hospital superintendent Hsu Yung-nien (徐永年) would for now decide whether the hospital accepts COVID-19 patients, Chen said.
Last year, the hospital in received COVID-19 cases almost every day, due to its proximity to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Hsu said.
TECH SECTOR: Nvidia Corp also announced its intent to build an overseas headquarters in Taiwan, with Taipei and New Taipei City each attempting to woo the US chipmaker The US-based Super Micro Computer Inc and Taiwan’s Guo Rui on Wednesday announced a joint venture to build a computation center powered only by renewable energy. After meeting with Supermicro founder Charles Liang (梁見後) and Guo Rui chairman Lin Po-wen (林博文), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) instructed a cross-ministry panel to be established to help promote the government’s green energy policies and facilitate efforts to obtain land for the generation of green power, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said. Cho thanked Liang for his company’s support of the government’s 2019 Action Plan for Welcoming Overseas Taiwanese Businesses to Return to Invest in
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
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