COVID-19

Beijing adds anal swab tests to COVID arsenal, but citizens are not taking it lying down

Anal swab test diagram, China
International 
Phillip Charlier 3 Comments , ,

Some Chinese citizens are avoiding going home for the Lunar New Year holidays after Beijing health authorities introduced anal swab tests for COVID-19. Citizens were quoted in various media reports including Apple Daily, as saying that they would prefer to miss the holidays rather than undergo what they consider to be an intrusive, insulting, and humiliating procedure. “Everyone involved will be so embarrassed,” one user wrote on Chinese social media site ­Weibo. A poll on Weibo showed that 80% of

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Taiwan develops mask with transparent windows to improve communication

NTCH staff demonstrate new transparent medical masks
Business and Economy 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

Medical mask manufacturer Taiwan Champ Manufacturing will donate 20,000 newly-developed transparent masks to social welfare organizations, after a joint effort between government and private sector groups to develop a mask to improve communication with the people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and it may bring benefits to anyone who appreciates a smile. Hsieh Li-fang (謝莉芳), chairperson of the Dandelion Hearing and Language Association (DHLA), said that people with hearing impairments rely on visual cues, facial expressions, and lip

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“I don’t need therapy, I just need to go to Taiwan” a big hit in online sales, so legislator features his own mug

I don't need therapy, I just need to go to Taiwan, Taiwan supports frontline health heroes mug
Politics 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

A series of products featuring the words “I don’t need therapy, I just need to go to Taiwan” has generated a viral level of sales on online shopping sites recently, so a Taiwanese legislator had a mug designed with the addition “Taiwan support frontline health heroes.” With much of the world gripped in fear, and locked down with restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a design company in the United States launched a coffee mug featuring the words “I don’t

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Taipei City New Year’s Eve party to go ahead: Mayor says “Don’t be defeated by irrational fear”

Taipei 101 Taipei City New Year's Eve fireworks
Entertainment 
Phillip Charlier 1 Comment , , ,

While New Year’s Eve parties in most counties and cities around Taiwan will have been cancelled after a returnee from the UK tested positive with what the media has been touting as a ‘mutant’ strain of COVID-19, Taipei City’s New Year’s Eve party will go ahead, Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) announced today, December 31. New Year’s events around the country were cancelled one by one yesterday, with a series of announcements from municipal governments, many of whom decided

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China claims 10.9 million COVID tests in Qingdao City all negative: Taiwan’s Health Minister says “impossible”

Chen Shih-chung coughs during press conference
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , , ,

Chinese officials claimed yesterday that COVID-19 tests on 10.9 million people in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, had all returned negative results, but Taiwan’s Health Minister, Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), said today that such a result was impossible. Citywide tests for Qingdao City’s population of 11 million were ordered after a cluster infection of 13 people centered around a local hospital was discovered recently. The cluster was claimed to be China’s first case of locally transmitted COVID-19 in over two months. The

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Taiwan shows lowest economic impact due to COVID-19 among 38 countries analysed

Taiwan can help the world fight COVID-19
Business and Economy Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

An analysis of economic downturns in COVID-19 impacted countries showed that Taiwan had among the lowest death-rates, and showed the least economic impact among 38 countries for which the latest GDP figures were available. The analysis by Joe Hasell, published in Our World in Data, showed that Taiwan had suffered a GDP decline of only 0.6% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same quarter in the previous year. In comparing the death rates and economic downturns experienced,

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Health Minister explains problems of mass COVID screening as KMT Party threatens to undermine Taiwan’s anti-epidemic success

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung speaks at a press conference, August 22, 2020
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung urged municipal-level government officials to follow the instructions of the National Health Command Center after some influential members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supported a bypass of the national government, and attempted to instigate general screening for COVID-19 at county and city level. Chen, who also serves as commander of the Central Epidemic Control Center (CECC) warned that local governments must follow the instructions of the national health authorities. The health minister

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Taiwan rejected drug cocktail treatment from the start, and has recorded 6 deaths attributed to COVID-19

Central Epidemic Control Center Coordinator talks about COVID-19 treatment
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , ,

Researchers in Hong Kong claimed that COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms recovered more quickly when treated with a combination of three antiviral drugs if treated soon after symptoms appear in a paper published by British medical journal The Lancet, May 8, 2020. However, according to Chang Shan-Chwen ( 張上淳), coordinator of the expert advisory group of Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), the group had considered the treatment method in the initial stages of the outbreak, but rejected it due

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Hypochlorous acid water in bottles that resemble drinking water distributed all over Taiwan

Water God brand hypochlorous acid water
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

Food and media conglomerate Want Want Group faced criticism today after it was found to have donated hypochlorous acid water to be distributed to school students, bottled and labeled in a way that children my mistake it for drinking water. The liquid is approved as an environmental hygiene product, and not for ingestion, nor for external use on the human body. The Chiayi County Government distributed the antibacterial liquid to schools at all levels within the county, according to reports,

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Three Navy crew test positive for COVID-19 after months at sea

Navy personnel from a ship where sailors tested positive for COVID-19 in Taiwan
Military Affairs 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

Three navy crew members have tested positive for COVID-19 after departing Taiwan February 21, and stopping only at the coronavirus-free island of Palau more than one month ago. The three young sailors, all in their 20s served on board one of three ships to make the annual oceanic training voyage, returning to the Port of Kaohsiung April 9. This year’s voyage was shortened to 48 days due to the coronavirus situation preventing visits to some countries. Since the ships had

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Man spends 81 days in hospital with no symptoms of COVID-19

central epidemic command center Taiwan
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 1 Comment , , , ,

A Taiwanese businessman who was put into a negative pressure isolation ward in January ,after breaching quarantine on his return from Wuhan, China, then testing positive for COVID-19, was finally released today, Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) confirmed. The man, who is not identified in media reports, but described as in his fifties, returned to Taiwan from Wuhan in January. However, instead of self-quarantining at home as required by anti-epidemic regulations, he went out to nightclubs in Kaohsiung City.

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