WHO director-general failed to take into account country differences in virus fight: Chen

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/03/11
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gave out erroneous messages because he failed to observe changes in the way countries dealt with the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said Wednesday (March 11).

The global health body chief carelessly changed his comments about the mortality rate, ranging from underestimating the scale of the threat to creating a panic, CNA quoted Chen as saying. The vice president gained prominence as Taiwan’s health minister during the 2003 fight against SARS.

He criticized the WHO lists which only mention the number of coronavirus cases and the number of deaths without taking the countries’ populations into account. Taiwan, Japan, and the United States would come out with the lowest incidence of the virus using the calculation method he proposed, Chen wrote on his Facebook page.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 03/11/2020
By: Kuan Jui-pin and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, March 11 (CNA) Rapid screening kits being developed by Taiwan's National Health

Research Institute (NHRI) for the coronavirus disease COVID-19 could be available for use by medical personnel by the end of the year, the institute's president said Wednesday.

The NHRI is currently testing the virus identification capacity of the antibodies that were selected for the development of COVID-19 rapid screening kits, Liang Kung-yee (梁賡義) said, noting that the testing is expected to be completed by March 31.

The next steps will be to conduct technology transfers to companies and undertake clinical trials with human tissue samples, Liang said.

It is assessed that the rapid screening kit developed by the NHRI could be available for use before the end of the year, he added.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Intrnational
Date: 10 March, 2020
By: Jake Chen

Defense Minister Yen Teh-fa says Taiwan’s military has not been affected by the ongoing COVID-

19 outbreak.

Yen told lawmakers on Tuesday that all soldiers and military officials who have traveled to areas affected by the outbreak have quarantined themselves upon returning to Taiwan. He said that right now 400 members of the military are in quarantine, down from a maximum of 2,000.

Yan says the military has measures in place to make sure the virus does not spread and affect the military’s key functions.    [FULL  STORY]

The New York Post
Date: March 10, 2020
By: Reuters

Elementary school student uses a self-built motion sensor controlled disinfectant dispenser assembled with Lego parts.[/caption] KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan – Students at an elementary school in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung have found their own unique way to fight the coronavirus and stay ahead of the curve in epidemic prevention – an automated disinfectant dispenser built from Lego.

Children ranging from six to 12 years old use every school break and any chance they can get to line up to use their self-built alcohol disinfectant robot that some of their peers have assembled under the guidance of their robotics coach.

“Washing hands is super,” shouts a recorded voice after the dispenser senses a pair of hands in front of its ultrasonic sensor and dispenses alcohol disinfectant from a spray bottle by pulling back its handle with a motor and gearwheel mechanism.

Next to the robot, there are scenes crafted by the younger students showing various situations that require the washing of hands: an operating table in a hospital, a toilet and a flower garden.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/03/10
By:  Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The government is encouraging the public to carry out tomb-sweeping

rituals for the upcoming Qingming Festival online to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), which has sickened 47 people in the island nation.

As one of the most important festivals for Chinese-speaking society, the Qingming Festival, which falls on April 4 this year, is when people visit the graveyard of their ancestors to clean tombs, make offerings, and pray. The Ministry of the Interior is now encouraging people who keep the cinerary urns of their ancestors in columbaria or who have given their diseased family members natural burials to carry out the tomb-sweeping rituals online.

It would prevent possible clusters of viral infection through people crowding in columbaria or cemeteries for hours. Several city governments have allowed citizens to pay their tribute to ancestors via designated websites, where they can leave messages and even offer virtual flowers, fruit, and offerings, said the ministry.

Cemeteries and columbaria will limit the number of visitors during the Qingming Festival, but they will open to the public early in March, according to the ministry. People are encouraged to arrange their visits earlier or later than the festival to prevent contact with large crowds.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 03/10/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting, Ku Chuan, Yeh Su-ping and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, March 10 (CNA) Starting Thursday, people in Taiwan will have the option of pre-ordering their weekly ration of surgical face masks online and collecting them at designated convenience stores, as the government is rolling out a new purchasing system on a test basis, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Tuesday.

The new system will be operated on a trial basis for one week, from March 12-18, and people who purchase masks online during that period will be able to pick them up the following week, the CECC said.

The weekly ration of three masks per person will remain in place, but people who do not have the time to line up at drugstores to buy the masks will have an alternative, the CECC said.

To use the online ordering system, consumers will either need to have access to a card reader or will have to download a National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) app from Google Play or the App Store, according to the CECC.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date:  Mar 11, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Orders for online mask purchases can be placed starting tomorrow, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, one day after it announced it was testing an online system for buying masks.

People would be able to order their weekly ration of masks online and pick up their purchase at convenience stores, in addition to the options of buying them at National Health Insurance (NHI)-contracted pharmacies or public health centers, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who is also head of the center.

People would need their NHI card or Citizen Digital Certificate to log on to the system, or use the National Health Insurance Administration’s mobile app (全民健保行動快易通) to order masks, Chen said, without specifying the Web site that is to be used for the orders.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, unveils the government’s new mask policy at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times

The first round of orders, from tomorrow to Wednesday next week, would serve as a trial run for the program, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 09 March, 2020
By:Leslie Liao

Foreign Minister Joseph Wu says that Taiwan’s relations with its diplomatic allies are stable. His

remarks came during a report to the legislature on Monday.

Wu did mention that the foreign ministers of the Holy See and China had met in Germany, but he said their discussions did not touch upon diplomacy. He said there was nothing to worry about in Taiwan’s relations with any of its 15 official diplomatic allies, including the Vatican.
[FULL  STORY]

WHO’s reluctance to label outbreak as pandemic baffles medical experts around world

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/03/09 
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwanese public health expert called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the coronavirus outbreak a “pandemic,” as the disease has infected nearly 110,000 people in many countries as of Monday (March 9).

At a press conference on the COVID-19, Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權), dean of the National Taiwan University’s College of Public Health (CPH), questioned the rationale behind the WHO’s decision not to label the epidemic as a pandemic.

From the perspective of potential fatalities, Chan likened the health crisis to the 1918 Spanish flu, which infected one-third of the world’s population, about 500 million people, with an estimated 2 to 3 percent fatality rate. The mortality rate of the coronavirus stands at 3.4 percent, according to the WHO.

To date, over 100 countries have reported infections, and the number could be growing. He believes the criteria of a pandemic have been met and calls on the UN health agency to act accordingly by making the declaration this week, wrote CNA.    [FULL  STORY]