News
Level 3 alert extended until 14 June
Courtesy of ICRT
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) has announced that the island-wide level 3 alert will be extended until 14 June, citing the severity of domestic transmission rates. The Level 3 alert was first issued for 19-28 May but its extension means that schools islandwide will now remain closed until 14 June. The extension of the Level 3 alert also means the continued closure of public venues and business places, except for government offices and those that provide essential services.
This follows confirmation of 544 new domestic Covid-19 cases today and as well as 6 deaths yesterday.
The CECC says 283 local infections are new, while 261 are cases where test results were delayed.
Officials say New Taipei remains the city with most infections, at 154. Taipei recorded 49 new cases, Taoyuan 16, and Tainan, Keelung and Changhua had 10 each.
Taichung, Pingtung, Xinzhu, Kaohsiung, Yilan, Taitung, Nantou, Miaoli, Hsinchu, Yunlin and Hualien remain in the single digits for recorded cases.
And Taiwan also saw two imported coronavirus infections today, both from the Philippines.
Education Minister Pan Wen-zhong says schools will continue to offer remote learning, and parents with children under the age of 12, or those with disabilities can still apply for epidemic leave.
But schools and daycare centres will still provide in-person classes as well as school meals for children who cannot stay at home.
Meanwhile health minister Chen Shih-chung says another two million doses of Covid-19 vaccines are set to arrive in June, while 10 million more will arrive by the end of August.
Chen is calling on the public to continue staying home and taking precautions, as part of efforts to stamp out the outbreak.
The CECC also announced that the latest batch of AstraZeneca vaccine doses could be available to the public starting this Friday.
Taiwan received 410,000 doses of the AZ vaccine last Wednesday, and safety checks should be completed tomorrow afternoon.
Once they are certified, the vaccines can be distributed for use across the country starting Thursday and be administered to people as soon as Friday.
Medical personnel responsible for treating Covid-19 patients will be first in line for this batch of vaccines, followed by other medical personnel and epidemic prevention workers.
This was the second batch of shots received from the global vaccine sharing programme COVAX.
These jabs are set to expire at the end of August.
Taiwan has signed contracts with various sources to purchase nearly 20 million vaccine doses.
