Nine of the 129 passengers who returned to Taiwan early Tuesday after being stranded in India and Bangladesh because of the COVID-19 outbreak have been tested for the disease after reporting possible symptoms, immigration officials said. The nine passengers declared in their health declarations that they had mild coughs over the past 14 days, and they were tested for COVID-19 as a precaution.
Some of the 129 passengers who returned to Taiwan on a special chartered flight from India on Tuesday said they had made that choice for safety reasons amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The 114 returning Taiwanese citizens, and 15 foreign nationals were placed in quarantine at two locations after they arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on a special China Airlines (CAL) flight from Delhi at 2:50 a.m. Tuesday.
The United States State Department on Friday launched a “Tweet for Taiwan” campaign calling for Taiwan’s inclusion in the World Health Assembly (WHA), drawing supportive responses from figures across the U.S. government.
Taiwan was among 19 countries that participated in a video conference on the response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, which was held last week by the United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). The virtual conference on April 29 focused on "sharing lessons learned regarding COVID-19 response, desires for resuming engagement and exercises in a post COVID world, and a commitment to continued cooperation across the Indo-Pacific region," PACAF said in press release on the weekend.
National Cheng Kung University Hospital unveiled Monday a lightweight protective tent designed to prevent the risk of infection while treating COVID-19 patients. Fang Pin-hui, a physician with the Tainan-based university's Department of Emergency Medicine who helped develop the concept, said doctors must be protected from getting infected, including during intubation after COVID-19 patients suffer respiratory failure.
Saint Christopher's Church in Taipei distributed hundreds of medical face masks to migrant fishermen in Yilan fishing ports on Saturday after receiving a donation from Taiwan's foreign ministry, according to an assistant parish priest.
The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has been promoting the New Southbound Policy and funding local institutions to establish “Science and Technology Innovation Center (STIC).” MOST subsidized Pingtung Christian Hospital to establish the Taiwan-Thailand Medical Tech., Science & Humanities Development Center.
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) has initiated a promotional series titled “WHA Countdown” on Facebook to express its support for Taiwan’s participation in the upcoming World Health Assembly (WHA). "The U.S. firmly believes Taiwan has a role to play in global health and should be invited to observe the World Health Assembly (WHA) later this month," the AIT, the U.S. de facto embassy in Taiwan, said on its Facebook page on Friday.
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Thursday it is considering lifting some of the restrictions related to its COVID-19 coronavirus prevention efforts, as Taiwan has recorded no new cases for the fifth consecutive day, leaving the total number at 429.
Taiwan's representative to the Philippines on Monday argued in an op-ed that Taiwan can provide a model for successfully controlling COVID-19 without a lockdown, as the Philippines prepares for a phased re-opening of its economy this week. In the op-ed, which was published in the Philippine Star and Malaya Business Insight, Representative Michael Hsu (徐佩勇) detailed the public health and economic challenges the pandemic has posed to the international community.
