2020/12/15 16:06 Developing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Developing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine (AP photo) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) Taiwan’s two largest airlines said Tuesday (Dec. 15) they have made all the necessary preparations to fly coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines over to the nation. Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said there might be an agreement within two weeks about the import of vaccines, while it denied media reports that the country has already ordered 10,000 doses of vaccine from Oxford-AstraZeneca and also concluded an agreement to buy Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. According to the Liberty Times, the CECC has entrusted EVA Air with converting cargo planes to add more refrigerated space to transport liquids, though its main competitor, China Airlines (CAL), also emphasized its ability to bring over the long-awaited vaccines. However, CECC officials denied they had
2020/12/15 14:48 (NIA photo) (NIA photo) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) Taiwan s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Tuesday (Dec. 15) announced two new cases of Wuhan coronavirus imported from the Philippines and Indonesia. During a press conference on Tuesday, CECC Spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) announced two imported COVID-19 infections, raising Taiwan s total to 742. The latest cases include a female Filipino migrant worker in her 30s (Case No. 742) and a male Indonesian migrant worker in his 30s (Case No. 743). Chuang said that prior to flying to Taiwan on Nov. 30, both of them had submitted negative results of tests taken within three days of their flight, and each was sent directly to a quarantine hotel upon arrival in the country. Neither person has reported experiencing symptoms of the coronavirus since arriving in Taiwan.
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CECC reports 2 imported cases
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported two new imported cases of COVID-19, while it refused to confirm from which companies the government had purchased vaccines.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is also CECC spokesman, said that the two new cases were migrant workers who had not reported any symptoms since arriving in Taiwan.
One is a Filipina in her 30s who arrived on Nov. 30 and provided a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test conducted within three days of boarding her flight.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung talks to reporters about COVID-19 vaccines during a visit to Chiayi County yesterday.
CAL and EVA ‘ready’ to transport vaccines
READY FOR COLD: EVA said that it was confident it could handle Pfizer’s ultra-cold vaccines with its cold-chain delivery service, although foreign airlines might be used
By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) yesterday said that they are ready and willing to transport COVID-19 vaccines, although they had not received assignments from the government.
The airlines’ remarks came after a report by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) said that the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) had asked EVA to install liquid nitrogen storage to facilitate carrying vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech, which must be kept at about minus-75°C.