Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/29/2020
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Ko Lin

Taipei, Jan. 29 (CNA) Convenience store chains across Taiwan assured the public Wednesday that the domestic supply of surgical face masks will become more stable once businesses return to normal on Thursday, following the end of the Lunar New Year holiday.

To meet the surge in demand, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that a daily supply of 6 million face masks will be made available through the country's convenience stores for three days beginning Tuesday.

According to the CDC, each person will only be allowed to purchase no more than three masks at a time per store.

Despite this measure, many convenience stores on Wednesday reported they were running out of face masks rapidly.    [FULL  STORY]

WATCH LIST: Among the 460 people who have had direct contact with the eight people who have coronavirus, 27 have symptoms, but have yet to test positive for it

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 30, 2020
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday said that 96 suspected cases of severe

pneumonia with novel pathogens were reported on Tuesday, bringing the total number of reports to 621, including eight people who are confirmed to have novel coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV).

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that as of yesterday afternoon no new confirmed cases had been reported, but responding to rapidly increasing cases in China, the command center has set disease prevention guidelines for public transportation, public assemblies and education institutions.

Of the 621 reports, 386 have been ruled out, and 227 people remain in quarantine for examination, including 92 people who had tested negative for 2019-nCov in their first screening.

Among the 460 people who have had direct contact with the eight confirmed cases, 27 people showed symptoms and have been reported as suspected cases, Chuang said, adding that 12 of them have tested negative for the virus twice, while five came up negative in the first test and 10 people have yet to be tested.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/29/2020
By: Yeh Su-ping, Chang Ming-hsuan and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Jan. 29 (CNA) Taiwan's Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Wednesday said the government is taking measures to guarantee the domestic supply of surgical face masks, and urged the public not to hoard masks amid fears over the spread of a new form of coronavirus.

During a visit to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), Su said the Ministry of Health and Welfare will release 23 million masks onto the market in the coming days, and has prohibited their export as a precautionary measure.

Combined with the government's efforts, manufacturers will increase daily production of masks to 4 million following the Lunar New Year holiday, Su said.

The premier's remarks follow the CECC's confirmation Tuesday night of Taiwan's first domestic case of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-cCoV).    [FULL  STORY]

Rqadio Taiwan International
Date: 28 January, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday that two new severe cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Taiwan, bringing Taiwan’s total to seven. The two patients are both female tourists over 70 years old who were traveling from Wuhan, China.

The two women came to Taiwan on January 22 traveling on their own. They were quarantined when they came down with a fever on January 25 and are in stable condition.  The CDC says that they likely contracted the virus in Wuhan.

The center has issued a third-level travel warning telling the public not to travel to mainland China unless necessary.    [FULL  STORY]

The fear of viruses often has less to do with reality than with irrational expectations. The latest coronavirus epidemic will taper off, just like those before it.

Date: 2020/01/29
By: Fabian Schmidt, Deutsche Welle
Photo Credit: AP / TPG Images

No doubt, the news of an impending epidemic is scary, and the novel coronavirus (nCoV) appears to be spreading rapidly with the number of deaths rising continuously. China, where the virus emerged, has implemented drastic measures and placed no less than 43 million citizens under quarantine. These steps will surely be effective in stopping the nCoV outbreak. 

And if the Chinese government actually succeeds in maintaining the quarantine over Hubei province and other affected regions for several weeks, the epidemic might end sooner than expected. 

Infected with fear

But the fear of viruses, just like the price of shares, often has less to do with reality than with irrational expectations. Face masks, worn by those hoping it will protect them from an infection, are manifestations of an irrational gut feeling. Those wearing them have, in other words, become infected by fear.

What is clear is that the Chinese government's determined steps to stop the nCoV outbreak are proving effective. And around the world, fear of the new coronavirus is far outpacing its actual dispersion.     [FULL STORY]

Convenience stores currently have one-day supply of surgical masks, three masks per individual allowed

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/28
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As demand for surgical masks dramatically increases due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus infection (2019-nCoV), Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) will release 6 million surgical masks onto the market starting Tuesday (Jan. 28), chinatimes.com cited Department of Commerce deputy head Chen Mi-shun (陳秘順) as saying on Tuesday.

Currently, convenience stores across Taiwan have a supply of surgical masks sufficient for just one day. Chen said Taiwan CDC would therefore take the emergency measure of releasing 6 million surgical masks to more than 10,000 convenience stores across the country, with each individual allowed to purchase three masks, according to the report.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/28/2020
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Jan. 28 (CNA) Taiwan on Tuesday confirmed its first domestic case of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

The man, in his 50s, is believed to have contracted the virus from his wife, who returned from the Chinese city of Wuhan Jan. 20 and was diagnosed with the virus on Monday, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The husband began to have a cough on Sunday and tested positive on Tuesday, the center said. 

It is Taiwan’s eighth confirmed case of the Wuhan-originated coronavirus and the first one with no recent travel record to China.    [FULL  STORY]

FIRST INDIGENOUS CASE: One of the cases involved the Taiwanese spouse of a woman who had visited Wuhan, while the other two were Chinese travelers

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 29, 2020
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday confirmed three new cases of 2019 novel

coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection in Taiwan — two Chinese visitors from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus was first discovered, and one Taiwanese spouse of a previously confirmed case.

The command center also raised its travel advisory for China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau, to level 3, its highest warning level, meaning people should avoid unnecessary travel to the area, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.

Yesterday’s announcement raised the total number of cases of 2019-nCoV confirmed in Taiwan to eight, with the latest being the husband of the fifth case reported on Monday.

The man had not visited China, making it the first indigenous case of the 2019-nCoV infection, the command center said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 27 January, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

President Tsai Ing-wen called on the public to remain calm and vigilant in the face of the recent novel coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Tsai was speaking  in Central Taiwan’s Nantou County during a Lunar New Year event on Monday morning.
[FULL  STORY]