Confirmed Cases Surge, Most from U.S., CECC Lists All Countries As Level 3 Pandemic Areas
Summary Report by Taiwan Weekly
There has been a sharp increase in the number of cases imported to Taiwan from abroad, with 58 cases on January 7, setting a new high since the onset of the pandemic two years ago. On January 8, another 42 cases were added, breaking 100 cases in just two days. Among them, 58 cases were imported from the United States. Among the cases from abroad over the past 10 days, more than 50 percent came from the United States, but the United States still was not listed as a "key high-risk country." Observers have questioned this rather soft position on the United States.
With Chinese New Year around the corner, the number of Taiwanese coming back home is surging. It is estimated that before January 16, every day will be an entry peak. Minister Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung indicated that, out of 50 entrants there is one confirmed case, so the airport is a highly risky place. He therefore announced on January 8 that around 9,000 frontline workers at the Taoyuan International Airport will all have to undergo PCR tests.
Minister Chen also indicated on the same day that 2.9 million confirmed cases a day in the world is appalling. The CECC simply canceled the designation of "key high-risk countries." Minister Chen announced on January 10 that starting from January 12, 10 countries including South Africa will be removed from the list of "key high-risk countries." All countries in the world are now included in the level 3 pandemic area, and quarantine is tightened. Now, travelers from abroad must pay for their stay at an epidemic prevention hotel or centralized quarantine center at their own expense. All entrants will have options for 7+7,10+4 or 14+0 quarantine programs in accordance with current regulations.
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) spokesman Chuang, Jen-Hsiang, explained that the reason to change the regulations on listing key high-risk country is that at the beginning, we did not understand Omicron very well, so the CECC listed 6 African countries, including South Africa, as key high-risk countries and required entrants from those countries to stay at the group quarantine facilities.
On the criticism that the high-risk country list was nominal, Minister Chen refuted recently that in the last seven days, the ratio of confirmed cases in one million people, it's 1,412 in the United States; 2,000 to 4,000 in Denmark, the United Kingdom, Greece and France. So the ratio of confirmed cases in many countries were all higher than that of the United States.
Chairman Jaw Shaw-kong of the Broadcasting Corporation of China indicated that, according to the ratio, the epidemic in France indeed is more severe than that of the United States. However, Jaw questioned: "How many French enter Taiwan in a day? And how many Americans a day? This is simple math." "Chen Shih-chung is treating the public like idiots! Is this the way the Democratic Progressive Party fighting against the epidemic?!" Jaw criticised.
Superintendent Huang Li-min of the National Taiwan University Children's Hospital, opined that the risk is almost the same among countries in the world, so to treat every country in the world as equal in risk is to "co-exist with the COVID-19 virus." Therefore, it does not mean much to list some countries as key high-risk countries.
From:
https://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20220109000286-260114?chdtv
https://udn.com/news/story/120940/6019904
https://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20220108000354-260114?chdtv