Radio Taiwan International
Date: 23 January, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

All direct flights between Taiwan and Wuhan City have been canceled, starting Thursday. China has suspended all public transportation out of Wuhan to help prevent spread of the coronavirus. This includes commercial flights, public buses, trains and river boats.

Taiwan has cancelled 12 weekly round-trip flights. These are operated by two Taiwan carriers — China Airlines (CAL) and Mandarin Airlines — and two Chinese airlines, China Eastern and China Southern.

Taiwan’s national carrier, China Airlines, announced on Thursday that it has cancelled flights to and from Wuhan beginning January 23 through the end of February.     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2020/01/23
By: Haitao Guo, Guangxiang Luo, Shuo-jiang Gao

Researchers have found that the protein codes in the new coronavirus to be most similar to those in snakes, and reports indicate that snakes were sold in the local seafood market in Wuhan.Snakes – the Chinese krait and the Chinese cobra – may be the original source of the newly discovered coronavirus that has triggered an outbreak of a deadly infectious respiratory illness in China this winter.

The illness was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan, a major city in central China, and has been rapidly spreading. Since then, sick travelers from Wuhan have infected people in China and other countries, including the United States.

Using samples of the virus isolated from patients, scientists in China have determined the genetic code of the virus and used microscopes to photograph it. The pathogen responsible for this pandemic is a new coronavirus. It’s in the same family of viruses as the well-known severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which have killed hundreds of people in the past 17 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) has named the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV.

We are virologists and journal editors and are closely following this outbreak because there are many questions that need to be answered to curb the spread of this public health threat.
[FULL  STORY]

US Center for Disease Control and Prevention appeared to portray Taiwan as Chinese territory on map of outbreak

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/23
By:  Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Following requests from the Taiwanese authorities, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has adjusted its novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) map, which had earlier designated Taiwan as part of Chinese territory.

It was previously discovered that the CDC had depicted Taiwan and China with the same brown color on a map on its website that showed the outbreak of the coronavirus, which is believed to have spread from the Chinese city of Wuhan.

In addition, in the CDC’s report on the mysterious disease, it failed to mention Taiwan, which confirmed its first coronavirus case on Tuesday (Jan. 21), giving the impression that the case was being categorized as a Chinese one, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

MOFA Spokesperson Joanne Ou (歐江安) said on Thursday (Jan. 23) that after requests for corrections had been made by the ministry and Taiwan's Representative Office in the U.S., the CDC made adjustments accordingly on Wednesday (Jan. 22), reported CNA. The agency has adjusted both the map and text on its website, said Ou, adding that the concern over undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty has thus been removed.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/23/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting, Lee Hsin-Yin and Christie Chen

Taipei, Jan. 23 (CNA) Taiwan tightened its border control Thursday, mandating a health declaration by all visitors from China and banning the entry of residents of the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of a deadly new coronavirus.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the epidemic response command center, said travelers will not be permitted to enter Taiwan if they have ever registered Wuhan as their place of residency.

Furthermore, he said, all travelers arriving from China and its territories, including Hong Kong and Macau, will be required to complete a health declaration form at Taiwan's borders.

If the travelers have not visited Wuhan in the 14 days prior to their arrival in Taiwan and they do not have any suspicious health symptoms, they will be allowed to enter Taiwan and their health information will be kept for future reference, Chen said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 24, 2020
By: Shelley Shan, Lin Hui-chin and Dennis Xie  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

The nation’s epidemic response command center has upgraded efforts against the 2019 novel

coronavirus by expanding border control measures to include all travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.

Wuhan residents would be prevented from entering Taiwan, Chen told a news conference in Taipei.

Symptom-free travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau would need to sign a declaration of good health and say whether they were routed through Wuhan, with those making false declarations, a breach of the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法), facing a fine of NT$10,000 to NT$150,000, Chen added.

Chinese tourists who have visited Wuhan in the past 14 days would be reported and hospitalized, or monitored by officials, depending on their status, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 22 January, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

The health ministry says that Taiwan’s hospitals are prepared to handle the possible spread of a new coronavirus that has arrived from China.

The virus, officially named 2019-nCoV, is responsible for an outbreak of pneumonia centered on the Chinese city of Wuhan. The virus has since spread through China and beyond. Over 400 cases have been confirmed and at least nine have died.

Taiwan reported its first confirmed case of the virus late on Tuesday. The previous day, a Taiwanese woman who lives in Wuhan told quarantine officials at Taoyuan International Airport that she had been suffering from pneumonia symptoms.    [FULL  STORY]

The mysterious new strain of the coronavirus has penetrated Taiwan and the United States. International health organisations urge caution.

The News Lens
Date: 2020/01/22
By: Jeremy Van der Haegen

The new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that originated in Wuhan, China is likely to be the next global epidemic. It has infected 440 people and claimed nine lives so far. 

In addition to Thailand, Japan, and South Korea, Taiwan and the United States had the first confirmed cases of the pneumonia-like virus this week. The Philippines quarantined a five-year-old Chinese boy in the city of Cebu, who tested positive for a still unidentified strain of coronavirus.

Fears have set in as hundreds of millions of Chinese will be traveling both domestically and internationally for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, as the World Health Organization raised the possibility of the virus being “sustained human-to-human transmission.” 

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has announced a temporary ban on all tour groups from Wuhan today. She urged China to be “open and transparent” about updates on the outbreak and to share correct information with Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Results of meeting to be announced Thursday (Jan. 23) morning

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/22
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan is the only country with a case of China coronavirus that has not been invited to a World Health Organization (WHO) discussion of the outbreak, reports said Wednesday (Jan. 22).

The island confirmed Tuesday (Jan. 21) that a businesswoman who had returned from Wuhan was its first case of coronavirus.

The WHO was planning an emergency meeting and had invited the United States, Thailand, Japan and South Korea, but not Taiwan, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The discussion would center on whether to design the coronavirus as an international health emergency, five of which occurred throughout the organization’s history, CNA reported.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/22/2020
By: Yu Hsiao-han and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Jan. 22 (CNA) China Airlines (CAL), one of Taiwan's largest carriers, said Wednesday that had canceled some of its roundtrip flights to Wuhan, China, scheduled for February.

In light of the escalating outbreak of a new communicable respiratory disease originating in the central Chinese city, flights between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Wuhan will be canceled Feb. 10-27, the airline said.

Passengers already booked on those flights — CI541 and CI542 — will be given assistance to change to other airlines, if they wish, CAL said.

Meanwhile, the airline said it had issued a directive for its cabin crews to wear surgical masks on flights between Taiwan and China, Hong Kong, and Macau, with effect from 5 p.m. Wednesday.
[FULL  STORY]

CAUTION URGED:Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lun said that the government would also focus on educating people about preventing the spread of the new virus

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 23, 2020
By: Liu Ching-hou and Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporters, with CNA

The Immigration Agency yesterday said that it had cancelled the entry permits for all 429 people in

24 tour groups from Wuhan, China, scheduled to arrive in Taiwan before the end of the month to help prevent the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus.

The agency said that it would suspend the review of applications from Wuhan to attend to professional matters, do business, have a health checkup or undergo cosmetic surgery.

The agency reminded residents of China’s Hubei Province that they would not be allowed for the time being to visit any of the nation’s outlying islands on “small three links” visas.

It called on Chinese residents in the nation and those who have returned home for the Lunar New Year holiday to implement measures to protect themselves from the virus and stop its spread.
[FULL  STORY]