The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said there has been increased bulk buying of Panadol pain relief medicine, causing a shortage in the market, but people who need the medicine are recommended to buy pain relief medicine that contains the same ingredient — acetaminophen — from other brands.
In a Cabinet meeting for COVID-19 prevention and response yesterday morning, the CECC said that although the Chinese government stopped releasing comprehensive data on new cases on Tuesday last week, many news outlets reported a shortage in fever and pain-relief drugs, as well as traditional herbal medicines, indicating an increase in the number of people with fever, so it is likely that COVID-19 cases are rising in China.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs has observed more people applying to renew their passports, and many people are expected to travel abroad or return to Taiwan from the year’s end to around the Lunar New Year next month, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said.
Photo: CNA
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the center, said the center had seen an increase in bulk buying of Panadol, a common drug for reducing pain and fever, and it has contacted the brand’s distributor in Taiwan to ask it to increase its supply, but the distributor said Panadol is in tight supply in other countries too.
There are 47 permits for producing drugs with acetaminophen held by several drug companies, so people can buy the medicine produced by other brands if they cannot find Panadol, he said.
However, Wang urged people to only buy acetaminophen when needed, and to avoid buying the medicine in bulk.
The CECC yesterday reported 10,317 new local COVID-19 cases — 4.7 percent lower than that on Monday last week — as well as 48 imported cases and 23 deaths.
Wang said 107,315 local cases were confirmed last week, 6.7 percent higher than the week before, so whether the weekly cases continue to fluctuate, or start to escalate into another wave, is uncertain and requires further observation.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said that of the 23 deceased, 16 had not been vaccinated.
Of the genome sequenced cases last week, 84 percent of the local cases were infected with the Omicron BA.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2, which remains the dominant strain in Taiwan, he said.
Although BA.5 infections accounted for 38 percent of the sequenced imported cases last week, 29 percent were infected with BA.2.75 and 17 percent were infected with BQ.1, he said.
Regarding whether new subvariants could enter Taiwan from China, where cases are surging, Lo said two sequenced imported cases from China last week were infected with the BF.7 strain, which has mainly been reported near Beijing, and another with BA.5.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS