The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday said it would delay the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, citing public health considerations and ongoing discussions on how the policy should be implemented.
Earlier this week, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said officials from several ministries were working on the policy and an announcement would be made yesterday.
However, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, yesterday said that the policy was still under review.
Wang said its implementation would be “delayed slightly” due to three main factors.
First, the center has registered an increase in hospital bed occupancy after the Lunar New Year holiday, likely due to an increased number of heart attacks and strokes amid cold weather, he said.
Even though many of the new hospitalizations were not COVID-19-related, there has been a slight “tightening” of available hospital capacity, he said.
CECC data showed that 2,894 of the country’s 5,609 hospital beds, or 51.6 percent, were occupied.
The second factor is that easing the mask mandate would affect multiple sectors of Taiwanese society and has to be adequately communicated with all stakeholders beforehand, Wang said.
Mask regulations in schools would have to be defined, he said, adding that the new term starts at most schools on Feb. 13.
Wang said the CECC is still collecting feedback on the draft policy from various parents’ and teachers’ groups.
The third reason is that COVID-19 case numbers have rebounded over the past few days, most likely because of underreporting during the Lunar New Year holiday, he said.
Even though the increase would likely be temporary, the CECC “wants to observe [the case numbers] for a few days to see if they begin to drop or stabilize,” he said.
Asked when he expects the CECC to announce the policy, Wang said it would depend primarily on the “resolution” of the three factors, but the center would “not necessarily” wait until the school term starts.
Wang said a “major announcement” would be made in May.
If Taiwan downgrades COVID-19’s communicable disease classification as planned, the CECC could be downgraded or deactivated entirely, he added.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS