CONSEQUENCES: Chen Shih-chung said the children could not have been left in China without caregivers and their parents did not choose Taiwan as their nationality

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 13, 2020
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced that Chinese minor

children of Taiwanese and Chinese couples would continue to be banned from entering Taiwan.

At their regular weekly meeting yesterday, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) overturned a policy announced by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Tuesday that would have allowed the children entry under special conditions, the center said.

Facing a widespread outbreak of COVID-19 in China, the center announced a ban on the entry of Chinese visitors from Thursday last week, but the council initially relaxed the policy on Tuesday.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, yesterday told a news conference in Taipei: “We are revoking all the control measures allowing Chinese minor children of Taiwanese and Chinese couples to return to Taiwan announced by the MAC on Tuesday.”    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 11 February, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

The foreign ministry has urged the Philippines not to label Taiwan as part of China.

The Philippine government made an unexpected announcement Monday night, banning tourists from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Macau from entry. Philippine health authorities made the decision on the basis of the World Health Organization’s “one China” principle.

Because the announcement was made after several flights to the Philippines had already taken off, about 150 Taiwanese tourists were denied entry at airports. In total, 542 Taiwanese tourists have been straneded in the Philippines.    [FULL  STORY]

Straits Times
Date: Jan 12, 2020
By: Reuters

TAIPEI (REUTERS) – Taiwan's presence at a World Health Organisation (WHO) meeting this week on the coronavirus was the result of direct talks between the island and the body, and did not require China's permission, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday (Feb 12).

The island's lack of WHO membership, due to the objections of China, which considers it a wayward Chinese province and not a separate state, has been an increasingly sore point for Taiwan amid the virus outbreak.

Taiwan has complained it has been unable to get timely information from the WHO and has accused China of passing incorrect information to the organisation about Taiwan's total virus case numbers, which stand at 18. China has more than 44,000.

But in a small diplomatic breakthrough for the island, its health experts were this week allowed to attend an online technical meeting on the virus.    [FULL  STORY]

Chen Shi-chung joked putting those who evade quarantine on E. Taiwan island worthy of consideration

Taiwan News
Date: 82020/02/12
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said on Tuesday that a proposal to isolate patients with the coronavirus or suspected symptoms on Turtle Island off the coast of Yilan County is not feasible and that such a move would turn the island into “Devil Island."

A newspaper advertisement placed Tuesday by businesspeople in the high-tech industry made the case to “develop Turtle Island into a special quarantine zone,” where people quarantined for coronavirus infection could be isolated from the rest of the world, CNA reported. Not only would those quarantined on the island be able to see Taiwan across a stretch of sea, but they would also be near National Yang-Ming University Hospital's branch in Yilan, the ad explained.

After observing that the existing quarantine stations are operating smoothly, Chen reflected on the idea of isolating people on Turtle Island. He said that even though there are no residences on the island and that a quarantine zone could be established quickly, putting the idea into practice would only turn Turtle Island into “Devil Island.”

Chen went on to say that turning the island into a special quarantine zone would not only be difficult, but transportation to and from the island is also not easy, and the quarantine might not be adequate, the report said. The minister also stated that such an undertaking would certainly not assuage people’s fear of epidemics either.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/12/2020
By: Chang Ming-hsuan, Wu Jui-chi and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, Feb. 12 (CNA) All travelers entering Taiwan, regardless of nationality or where their trip originated, will be required to submit a health declaration on arrival in the country, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Tuesday.

The measure, which expands on a previous rule requiring all travelers arriving from China, Hong Kong and Macau to submit such a declaration, was announced Tuesday evening, though it had been in force since that afternoon.

The expanded provision is in response to the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus in countries like Singapore and Thailand, said Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), deputy director-general of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The two countries have the highest number of confirmed cases outside of China, with 47 and 32 cases, respectively, as of Wednesday morning.    [FULL  STORY]

TRAVEL SNARL:The Philippine undersecretary for health said he included Taiwan in the ban because Taiwan is considered a part of China by the WHO

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 12, 2020
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

The Philippines’ decision to include Taiwan in its travel ban on Chinese visitors due to the 2019

novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was made unilaterally by the Philippine Department of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, adding that Taipei is communicating with the Manila to correct the mistake.

Philippine Undersecretary of Health Eric Domingo on Monday said that Taiwan is included in its temporary travel ban on visitors from China, Hong Kong and Macau, given that Taiwan is considered part of China by the WHO.

When the ban was first announced last week, it did not mention Taiwan.   

Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) Chairman and Resident Representative Angelito Banayo said in a message sent to MOFA later on Monday that “the statement made by Health Undersecretary Dr Eric Domingo is not an official position.”    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/10/2020
By: William Yen

Taipei, Feb. 10 (CNA) A department director at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) has advised Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) to apply stricter standards when determining whether a patient has signs of a fever, in the wake of the spread of the coronavirus which has been declared a global public heath emergency.

Su Ta-chen (蘇大成), Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine director, said at a press conference held in Taipei on Monday the CECC should update the traditional measurement of 38 degrees Celsius used by most health units around Taiwan to 37.4 degrees.

The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) causes fever in around 99 percent of the people that catch it, including 20 percent of patients whose body temperature ranges from 37.3-38 degrees, Su said.

According to literature published in 2017 in the weekly peer-reviewed medical journal BMJ, normal body temperature should be around 36.6 degrees, while another medical paper published in America this year suggested 36.4 degrees, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 10 February, 2020
By: eslie Liao

President Tsai says that the Chinese government should focus on containing the spread of novel coronavirus rather than intimidating Taiwan. This came as a response to the Chinese Air force dispatching three military aircraft to circle Taiwan around 11:00 AM on Sunday. Taiwan responded by scrambling its own F-16 fighter jets to intercept the Chinese planes.
[FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2020/02/10
By: Jeremy Van der Haegen

Passengers left the ship after Taiwanese health officials conducted a sample test for coronavirus. The Chinese crew members were not allowed to disembark.

Over 1,700 Taiwanese passengers on the Superstar Aquarius were allowed to disembark on February 8, after travelers on board were tested negative for the Wuhan coronavirus. After the inspection, the ship was ordered to leave the port with 200 Chinese crew members on board.

Taiwan’s government has allowed the Superstar Aquarius to return to the Keelung seaport, its current home base, after wandering aimlessly on the sea. Chinese crew members will not be allowed to leave the ship during the ship's temporary stay. 

Screenshot of Marinetraffic

The Superstar Aquarius maneuvering around Taiwan on February 8. Taken at 13:35 Taipei time on February 10, 2020. 

When the cruise ship docked in Keelung on Saturday, Taiwan’s Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) boarded the ship with medical workers to conduct a fever screening for all passengers. A sample size of 128 was selected for further testing based on symptoms of infection and travel history. 

Chen explained the testing sample was already higher than expected, including passengers with a mild fever at 37.3C. After nine hours, all test results returned negative. Chen announced to the passengers that “we can go home” and the crowd cheered. All foreign travelers were also dropped off.     [FULL  STORY]

HKU pathologist: No 2019-nCoV vaccine on horizon but virus will die out in five to six months

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/10
By:: Jules Quartly, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — There’s no vaccine on the immediate horizon for the new virus 2019-nCoV but there’s no need to panic because the world is “going to get basically a very bad cold for about five months,” according to John Nicholls, clinical professor at University of Hong Kong (HKU).

In January, Nicholls and his team were the first scientists outside China to reproduce the new or novel coronavirus in a laboratory. The pathologist also helped isolate the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) coronavirus when it was rampant 17 years ago in Asia.

In a video uploaded by South China Morning Post on Monday (Feb. 10), Nicholls said a vaccine for the virus would not be ready any time soon. “You have to make sure it works, make sure it’s safe and doesn’t have any side effects.”    [FULL  STORY]