CECC reports new imported virus case
STAYING PUT: More than 4,300 people linked to a cluster infection at a hospital in Taoyuan remain in home isolation, while 536 have been released, the CECC said
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported an imported case of COVID-19, a Taiwanese man who returned from the US and tested positive after going to work for a week.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the man, who is in his 40s, traveled to the US for work in October last year, and the center believes he had been exposed to a confirmed case there.
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Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen greets the Taoyuan municipal government’s Epidemic Prevention and Disinfection Brigade and the 33rd Chemical Corps of the Sixth Army Corps, Feb. 1, 2021
Credit: Office of the President, ROC (Taiwan)
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Taiwan remains one of the world’s preeminent success stories in warding off the coronavirus pandemic – the island has recorded less than 1,000 total cases and just nine deaths. That doesn’t mean officials have any plans to neglect the threat of COVID-19 ahead of the country’s biggest annual holiday.
Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said this week it would institute crowd control measures at national scenic areas during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.
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Population decline
To address Taiwan’s low fertility rate, the Legislative Research Bureau has recommended increasing the NT$2 million (US$70,447) allowance for interest-free loans for young, first-time house buyers and the extension of interest-free mortgages for couples with children aged two to five.
The bureau also recommended that the income tax exemption limit should be raised, and that medical and health management should be improved to bring down the rate of infant mortality.
The Executive Yuan has also set up a cross-departmental task force to devise legislation to encourage couples to have more children.
With the exception of the establishment of the task force and increased mortgage subsidies, all these policies were in 2017 included in the government’s program to increase the fertility rate. Various departments have long been working together to address this issue, yet despite their combined efforts, the fertility rate continues to decline. Last