The nation’s first-dose COVID-19 vaccination rate has exceeded 70 percent, with two-dose full vaccinations surpassing 30 percent, Minister of Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.
More than 16.4 million people, or 70.01 percent of Taiwan’s population of 23.43 million, have received at least one vaccine dose, and 30.87 percent, or 7.23 million people, have received two.
Chen said that 78.16 percent of people aged 65 or above had received at least one shot, and 67.57 percent had been fully vaccinated.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The two-dose vaccination rate of the flight crew of Taiwanese airlines has reached 99 percent, with 90 percent of airport personnel having been fully vaccinated, said Chen, who also heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
Taiwan yesterday received 902,100 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the ninth shipment Taiwan has received of this brand.
It is part of 15 million doses ordered by the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co-affiliated Yong Lin Foundation, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, and the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, which are to be donated to the government for distribution.
Another shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is scheduled to arrive today, Chen said.
With the latest delivery, Taiwan has now received more than 6.8 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and over 25.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from overseas, CECC data showed.
Taiwan yesterday reported six new COVID-19 cases, all contracted overseas, and zero deaths from the disease, the CECC said.
The six imported cases arrived in Taiwan from Japan, the US, the UK, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. They all tested positive during quarantine, the CECC said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to