Axios
Date: Jan 27, 2020
By: Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has blocked numerous Twitter accounts — including ones belonging to Capitol Hill staffers and D.C.-based analysts — after facing online criticism for excluding Taiwan from membership.

Why it matters: Taipei is an international transit hub, and Taiwan's exclusion means it can't take part in information sharing and logistical planning as the coronavirus spreads.

Context: China views Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory, and it has systematically pushed the self-governing island out of most international and intergovernmental organizations, including ICAO, which is led by Fang Liu, a Chinese national.    [FULL  STORY]

Daily production of face masks could surge to 3.9 million after holiday: MOEA

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Travelers leaving Taiwan should not take more than five boxes containing a total of 250 face masks with them, the authorities said Monday (Jan. 27).

The measure, which was not binding, was designed to prevent hoarding of masks amid the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) out of Wuhan and China. Taiwan confirmed its fifth case of the virus Monday.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs imposed restrictions on exports of certain types of masks valid for the period from Jan. 24 to Feb. 23, CNA reported.

As the Lunar New Year holiday was drawing to a close, many Taiwanese business people working in China were preparing to return there, increasing the possibility that face masks would become scarce on the island.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/27/2020
By: William Yen

Taipei, Jan. 27 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said NBA superstar Kobe Bryant was an inspiration to Taiwanese basketball players and expressed her condolences over his passing in a helicopter crash in the United States on Sunday.

Considered one of the greatest basketball players in history, 41-year-old Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were part of a group of nine people who perished when the helicopter they were in crashed over Calabasas, California about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Tsai said on American microblogging and social networking service Twitter that her thoughts go out to the Bryant family and the families of all those who lost loved ones.

"Kobe inspired a generation of young Taiwanese basketball players & his legacy will live on through those who loved him," Tsai said.    [FULL  STORY]

COOPERATION NEEDED: The CDC warned travelers who refuse to comply with health inspection routines, make false statements or disrespect quarantine officers

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 28, 2020
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday confirmed a fifth case of 2019 novel coronavirus

(2019-nCoV) infection, urging people returning from China to cooperate with quarantine officers conducting health checks in airports.

The latest case involves a woman who on Monday last week took the same plane from Wuhan, China, as the first Taiwanese reported to have contracted the virus, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said.

The new patient was one of the people being monitored for possible infection, said Chen, who also heads the command center.

The woman on Saturday exhibited symptoms, including fever and muscle pain, and was immediately placed in a negative-pressure isolation ward after confirmation of the infection, he said.
[FULL  STORY]

Latest figures on China's viral outbreak

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/27
By  Taiwan News, Staff Writer

[SOURCE]

Japan Forward
Date: January 27, 2020
By: Editorial Board, Sankei Shimbun

(Click here to read this article in Japanese.)

Beijing interference Taiwan, china, Chinese Investment, coronavirus, Ethiopa, infectious diseases, japan, novel coronavirus, One China, SARS epidemic, taiwan, Taiwan's WHO membership, Tedros Adhanom, Tsai Ing-wen, United States, WHO, WHO constitution, WHO Director-General, WHO experts committee, Wuhan, Xi Jinping, Director General of the World Health Organization, WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

On January 22, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen reiterated her call for Taiwan to be recognized as a member of the World Health Organization (WHO). That followed the confirmation of a case of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China.

As things stand, the WHO leadership continues to adhere to its warped arrangement, designed to kowtow to Beijing and its “one China” principle, by excluding participation by Taiwan. Now, however, with the world facing an extraordinary public health challenge with lives in the balance, it is intolerable that Taiwan should be a blank space on the global health map.

In light of China’s responsibility to prevent the spread of this serious public health threat, Beijing must desist from its needless interference, and WHO should immediately welcome Taiwan’s participation in its activities.    [FULL  STORY]

Reuters
Date: January 26, 2020
By: Ben Blanchard6

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s vice president-elect on Sunday offered help to rival China to fight the new coronavirus outbreak, as authorities in the island further tightened restrictions on visitors from China to prevent its spread.

FILE PHOTO: Foxconn employees wearing masks attend the company's year-end gala in Taipei, Taiwan January 22, 2020. REUTERS/Yimou Lee

Taiwan has close economic and cultural links with China and has so far reported four cases of the virus, which started in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei province and where most of the 56 deaths to date have been.

But political relations are tense. China has stepped up pressure on Taiwan, which it considers its own territory to be taken by force if needed, including holding military drills near the democratic island.

This month, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen won a landslide re-election after campaigning on a platform to stand up to China and defend Taiwan’s freedoms.
[FULL  STORY]

Those returning from Hubei Province required to self quarantine to prevent spread of Wuhan coronavirus

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/26
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan announced on Sunday (Jan. 26) stricter travel restrictions against Chinese visitors from Hubei, the epicenter of a viral outbreak that has sickened over 2,000 and claimed more than 50 lives.

According to a statement released by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), individuals from Hubei Province, which has locked down a dozen cities to contain the spread of the potentially deadly coronavirus (2019-nCoV), will be banned from traveling to Taiwan.

Chinese residents outside Hubei are also prohibited from visiting the island country for purposes including tourism, social and professional exchanges, and medical trips. Meanwhile, a two-week ban will be imposed on Chinese students planning to come to Taiwan.

In addition, those returning from Hubei or who have contracted confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, are required to self-quarantine and submit to health monitoring for 14 days. They are asked to report to health authorities immediately should they develop symptoms such as respiratory illnesses or fever.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/27/2020
By: Yu Hsiao-han and Y.F. Low\

Taipei, Jan. 27 (CNA) A Taiwanese woman who had recently been to the Chinese city of Wuhan was diagnosed Sunday with the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), the fourth such confirmed case in Taiwan.

The woman, in her 50s, was traveling in Wuhan Jan. 13-15 before joining a Chinese tour group to Europe Jan. 16-25, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥).

The patient, who began to have a cough Jan. 22, reported her condition to airport quarantine officials upon her return from Guangdong Saturday, Chuang said.

As of 4 p.m. Sunday, 350 suspected cases of the new type of coronavirus had been reported in Taiwan, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 27, 2020
By Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

People returning to Taiwan from Wuhan, China, would be subject to compulsory home confinement for 14 days upon arrival, the Central Epidemic Command Center announced yesterday, as the government stepped up preventive efforts against the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

If they fail to comply, the center would ask police to step in and have them quarantined in designated locations, officials said at a news conference in Taipei.

Previously, only those suspected of having the virus, or who had close contact with a person confirmed as having the disease were subject to compulsory home confinement for 14 days.

Disease prevention personnel will also visit people who have returned from Chinese provinces other than Hubei — whose capital is Wuhan, where the virus was first discovered — and ask them to monitor their health by checking for pneumonia-like symptoms for 14 days, the center said.
[FULL  STORY]