Starting today, people under 40 years old who test positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Taiwan and have mild or no symptoms would be sent to government-run quarantine centers instead of medical facilities, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
The CECC on Tuesday began implementing a new policy requiring travelers from Europe, the US, the Middle East, New Zealand and Australia to wait at the airport for the results of their mandatory COVID-19 tests
Those who tested positive were sent to the hospital for treatment and further testing, while those who tested negative were sent to either a quarantine hotel or government facility.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
To reduce pressure on hospitals, mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 cases aged 20 to 39 would from tomorrow be sent to quarantine facilities, the center said.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the number of imported cases is expected to rise over the coming days.
A total of 140 people with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 arrived in Taiwan over the past week, bringing the total number of such cases to 278, CECC data showed.
That set a weekly record of Omicron cases, surpassing the previous record of 79 recorded from Dec. 31 to Thursday last week, reflecting the growing global dominance of the variant.
Taiwan reported its first imported Omicron cases on Dec. 11.
Genome sequencing of imported COVID-19 cases between Jan. 1 and Thursday showed that 140 were Omicron infections and seven were Delta cases, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, told a daily briefing.
Four of the Delta infections came from Turkey and three from Vietnam, he added.
To date, the nation has confirmed 317 Omicron cases (39 domestic and 278 imported) and 310 Delta cases (52 domestic and 258 imported), the CECC said.
Taiwan has reported 17,692 local and imported COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020.
Among last week’s imported Omicron cases, 81 came from the US and 59 were from 30 other countries, CECC data showed.
Among the 278 imported Omicron infections reported since Dec. 11, five were younger than five years old, two were aged five to 10, 10 were aged 10 to 20, 77 were in their 20s, 63 were in their 30s, 33 were in their 40s, 44 were in their 50s, 28 were in their 60s, and 16 were 70 or older, it showed.
The data also showed that 259 of the 278 cases were breakthrough infections, while four are still being investigated.
Lo said that 200 of the 278 cases tested positive at the airport, which shows that there is a high success rate in identifying cases upon arrival.
The remaining 78 cases were detected in quarantine hotels or centralized facilities, suggesting a low risk of the variant entering local communities, he added.
CECC data showed that 144 of the 278 cases showed no symptoms, while 134 had mild symptoms.
However, as most of the Omicron cases were fully vaccinated travelers, Taiwanese should get fully vaccinated to ensure that they do not develop serious symptoms should they get infected, Lo said.
PIVOTAL ROLE: Taiwan’s importance in the global chip supply chain can be bolstered by domestic equipment manufacturing, President Tsai Ing-wen said Efforts must be made to better secure Taiwan’s place in the global supply chain by localizing production of equipment and facilities used by the semiconductor industry, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday. Tsai discussed the issue during a meeting with representatives from the Taiwan Electronic Equipment Industry Association at the Presidential Office in Taipei. Product shortages throughout the COVID-19 pandemic — particularly of automotive chips — highlighted the pivotal role of Taiwan in the global supply chain, she said. Tsai thanked the association for cooperating with the government on the shared goal of localizing production of important semiconductor industry equipment.
Without completed infrastructure and training, the expedited sale of new F-16s from the US could become a burden rather than a help, a military official said yesterday. Reuters on Thursday last week reported that Washington is looking to accelerate the delivery of 66 new F-16C/D Block 70 aircraft in response to what it sees as increasing intimidation by Beijing. Under the terms of the original US$8 billion deal signed in 2019, the US is expected to deliver a single-seater and double-seater for testing next year, then deliver the 66 new aircraft in batches of four or five from 2024 to 2026. The officials
TRACING UNDER WAY: The CECC has identified six transmission chains among 25 recently confirmed COVID-19 cases, including those linked to a restaurant and a bank The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 54 new COVID-19 infections — 44 imported and 10 local — and identified six transmission chains among local cases. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the imported cases are 18 who tested positive upon arrival at the airport and 26 who tested positive during quarantine. Of the local cases, seven are associated with a cluster infection at a Tasty Steak (西堤牛排) outlet in Taoyuan’s Zhongli District (中壢), one is linked to a family of four with COVID-19 reported on Monday, one is a family member of an
BILINGUAL NATION 2030: Those interested can apply online, while recruitment would continue until all of the positions are filled, the Ministry of Education said The recruitment of foreign English teachers for elementary and junior-high schools would be expanded in the 2022-2023 school year as part of Taiwan’s efforts to become a bilingual country, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said yesterday. In a statement, the ministry said that it has since 2004 hired 81 foreign nationals per year to teach English in 16 smaller counties and cities to build a better English-learning environment for students. However, for the 2022-2023 school year, the number of foreign English teachers recruited would increase to 531, with some of them to be posted to Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan
RSS