The Ministry of Education yesterday announced a further easing of rules regarding the suspension of in-person classes due to COVID-19 at all educational institutions effective on Monday.
Students who were confirmed as COVID-19 cases would be allowed to return to school following seven days of isolation, provided they no longer have symptoms.
On-site education can resume if teachers and students in the same class as a confirmed case have no symptoms and have tested negative.
Photo: CNA
Under the ministry’s current rules, in-person lessons must be suspended for three days if someone in the class tests positive for COVID-19.
The new rules also state that those who have taken part in the same classes or extracurricular activities with confirmed cases and did not wear a mask for more than 15 minutes would be provided with one rapid test kit by their school.
If they test negative for COVID-19 and display no symptoms, they would be allowed to attend in- person classes, the ministry said.
The new rules will also apply to colleges and universities when their new semester starts after the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday from today until Sunday, as well as schools below university-level, which are already in session.
Under the new protocols, those who live in the same school dormitory room as confirmed cases would be classified as close contacts and have to undergo mandatory isolation or disease self-prevention measures.
Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said in a recent interview that colleges and universities across the nation had a total 3,500 beds in nursing dormitories for positive COVID-19 cases, and 8,800 in isolation dormitories for negative close contacts.
He added that beds in these dormitories were mainly reserved for those who cannot return home for isolation, such as overseas students.
In related news, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 35,124 new COVID-19 cases, including 278 imported cases, and 29 deaths.
The deceased ranged in age from two to their 90s. All but three had chronic illnesses, 15 of whom had not received any COVID-19 vaccine shot.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, told a news briefing that the two-year-old girl who died of encephalitis did not have any underlying medical condition and was not fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
While undergoing treatment in hospital for COVID-19, the girl’s condition deteriorated on Thursday last week after she developed a racing heart rate and a fever of 39.8oC, Lo said.
The girl was transferred to an intensive care unit, but passed away on Saturday last week due to COVID-19, combined with acute encephalitis and multiple organ failure, Lo said.
It was the 30th case of encephalitis in children related to severe COVID-19 this year, Lo said, adding that 11 of those cases had died.
The CECC also reported 26 cases that have been classified as severe and 156 as moderate.
Among the severe cases was a two-year-old girl who was diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, Lo said.
Of the 34,846 domestic cases reported yesterday, 7,840 were in New Taipei City, 4,447 in Taipei, 4,313 in Taichung, 4,010 in Taoyuan, 2,547 in Kaohsiung and 1,933 in Tainan.
Changhua County reported 1,408, Hsinchu County 1,209, while 897 were recorded in Hsinchu City, 832 in Pingtung County, 777 in Miaoli County, 762 in Yilan County, 704 in Keelung, 694 in Yunlin County, 663 in Hualien County, 453 in Chiayi County, 427 in Nantou County, 328 in Chiayi City and 293 in Taitung.
Kinmen reported 144, Penghu 139 and the Matsu Islands 26, the CECC said.
As of Wednesday, of the 5,500,663 domestically transmitted cases recorded this year, 10,848 were classified as severe infections and 13,975 as moderate, accounting for 0.2 percent and 0.25 percent of the total respectively.
To date, Taiwan has recorded 5,580,027 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 29,922 that were contracted abroad.
With the 29 deaths reported yesterday, the number of COVID-19 fatalities in the country rose to 10,170 since the beginning of the pandemic.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS