Health Minister Chen appeals to US for vaccine doses
By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) yesterday said that he had asked his US counterpart for assistance obtaining COVID-19 vaccines.
Chen’s video conference with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra lasted about 30 minutes yesterday morning, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said in a news release.
Later yesterday at the Central Epidemic Command Center’s (CECC) daily news conference, Chen said that he told Becerra about Taiwan’s urgent need to acquire more vaccine doses amid a COVID-19 outbreak since last week.
CECC reports 312 new local cases
MAPPING THE SPREAD: Raising alert levels, based on the number of cases reported, also depends on whether it can continue to trace infection sources, the center said
By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 312 new local COVID-19 cases and called on local governments to implement disease prevention measures consistent with pandemic alert level 3 guidelines.
“The outbreak is still at its peak,” Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, told a news conference in Taipei, calling on the public to reduce nonessential travel over this weekend.
Taiwan withdraws advisory limiting use of AZ vaccine jabs
05/21/2021 11:03 PM
CNA file photo
Taipei, May 21 (CNA) Taiwan s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) has withdrawn its recommendation that people taking oral contraceptives or undergoing hormone therapy not take the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, based on recent research findings.
When Taiwan began its rollout of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on March 22, the CECC issued a warning of unconfirmed risks of an increased rate of blood clots associated with the vaccine.
Based on that warning, the vaccines were not recommended for people taking oral contraceptives or undergoing hormone therapy, until Friday.
CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) told CNA that the CECC made the recommendation at that time after some people getting the AZ vaccine overseas reported getting blood clots.
Taipei hospital scales down operations after reporting COVID cases
05/21/2021 11:15 PM
Image taken from the Facebook page of Tri-Service General Hospital.
Taipei, May 21 (CNA) The Tri-Service General Hospital s Neihu branch has suspended non-urgent surgeries and reduced regular outpatient clinics, the hospital said Friday, after three people there, including a nurse and a patient, tested positive for COVID-19.
In a phone interview Friday, Deputy Superintendent Chang Feng-yi (張峰義) said the hospital has been giving polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to its 845 inpatients since May 15, when the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) raised the COVID-19 alert for Taipei and New Taipei to Level 3.
The first patient to test positive on May 18 was asymptomatic and about to be discharged when his infection was confirmed, Chang said.
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