Thu, Jan 27, 2022 page3

• Video link needed for lawmakers: TPP

  CONTINUED RISK: Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Ann Kao said that without a videoconferencing system, legislators in quarantine cannot review budgets or vote

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators yesterday called on the Legislative Yuan to launch a videoconference system for legislators in isolation or quarantine, and urged the government to purchase more oral antiviral drugs for treating COVID-19.

  TPP Legislator Ann Kao (高虹安) and New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) yesterday held a joint news conference calling on the Legislative Yuan to speed up its digital transformation with videoconferencing for legislative meetings, as the risk of infection continues with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.

  In May last year, the legislature tested a videoconferencing system, but it had not been tested, updated or officially used since then, neither had legislators received a standard for using it, Kao said.

  

  New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih, left, and Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Ann Kao hold a joint news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: CNA

  Five TPP legislators might have been placed in isolation, she said, adding that the TPP was to hold its year-end banquet at the Grand Hotel Taipei (圓山飯店) on the day after the chef tested positive for COVID-19.

  Without a videoconferencing system, legislators who are placed in isolation cannot review the government budgets or vote, Kao said.

  Many governmental departments or companies have adopted ways to work from home to reduce the risk of infection clusters in the workplace, she said, adding that the legislature last month passed the third reading of an amendment to the Company Act (公司法) allowing shareholders’ meetings to be held via videoconferencing in the case of disaster or special circumstances.

  City and county councils, courts and schools have held drills on how to hold meetings, court sessions or classes online in the event that the COVID-19 alert is raised to level 3, but the legislature still lacks such a measure, Chiu said, urging it to speed up finalizing the videoconferencing system.

  Separately yesterday, TPP legislators Chiu Chen-yuan (邱臣遠) and Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) held a news conference urging the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) to work closely with local governments on announcing to the public as soon as possible disease prevention guidelines for the Lunar New Year holiday.

  Despite local Omicron cases mostly having mild symptoms, or being asymptomatic, and the infection sources of some cases remaining unknown, the nation’s healthcare capacity is a big concern, especially when entering the Lunar New Year holiday, Tsai said, asking whether the CECC had prepared holiday measures.

  She said that people should consider sharing holiday greetings with friends by telephone, sending digital red envelopes and having gatherings via videoconferencing.

  The government has procured 25,000 courses of oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19, which is only about 0.1 percent of the population, while South Korea has purchased enough for 2 percent and the US has enough for 7 percent, Chiu Chen-yuan said.

  The CECC should explain its plan for using the nation’s inventory of oral antiviral treatments against COVID-19, he said.

  Additional reporting by CNA
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