By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a small bottle labelled with a Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccine sticker and a medical syringe in this illustration taken October 30, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan will get a share of 1.3 million COVID-19 vaccine shots produced by AstraZeneca Plc from the COVAX global vaccine programme, the government said on Thursday, but without providing a timeframe or further details.
Taiwan has kept the pandemic well under control thanks to early and effective prevention, with only 71 active cases, but it has not yet received any vaccines.
In December, Taiwan said it had agreed to buy almost 20 million vaccine doses, including 10 million from AstraZeneca and 4.76 million doses from COVAX, and that it was in talks with another company it did not identify.
Death of Taoyuan patient remains mystery: CECC
Staff writer, with CNA
A Taoyuan General Hospital patient who died on Friday last week tested negative for COVID-19, but the cause of death has yet to be determined, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said on Wednesday.
The mystery over the death has drawn attention because of questions raised by the family, especially as the hospital was the site of a COVID-19 cluster infection that began on Jan. 12.
The CECC has not said why the patient, said to be in their 60s, was hospitalized, but Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the center’s spokesman, said they tested negative for COVID-19 when transferred on Jan. 19 from Taoyuan General Hospital following the cluster infection.
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Freeway 1968 traffic app service reduced over holiday
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
The “Freeway 1968” app is to offer reduced services during the Lunar New Year holiday, with information on traffic on freeways and highways, and parking space availability in freeway rest areas, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday.
As many people are expected to travel during the holiday, the government is implementing strict measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Lin made the remarks when asked if the government would urge people to use the app over the holiday, as it did during the International Workers’ Day holiday last year.