EARLY DIAGNOSIS: The Health Promotion Administration in July last year launched a program to screen heavy smokers and people with family history of lung cancerBy Wu Liang-yi and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Temporary COVID-19 testing stations are to be removed starting today, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, adding that people can still take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test at hospitals under certain conditions.
The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) on Monday issued a notice to local governments, informing them that the government subsidy for community COVID-19 testing stations would end today.
With PCR tests no longer required to diagnose COVID-19, the stations, which have been up for more than a year, can be removed, allowing healthcare workers and resources to return to hospitals, HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said.
Centers for Disease
The share of elementary-school students with poor vision has grown over the past two academic years after an eight-year decline, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has said.
Ministry data showed that 44.6 percent of elementary-school students last year had poor vision, defined as having visual acuity below 0.9 in at least one eye.
The share was 44.35 percent in the 2019-2020 academic year, which ended a decline since 2011-2012, when 50.01 percent of elementary-school students had poor vision.
Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital ophthalmologist Wu Pei-chang (吳佩昌), who leads the school children’s vision health program at the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) and
About 30 percent of people in Taiwan who have died from complications related to COVID-19 had a history of cardiovascular disease, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said, urging people with cardiovascular conditions to continue regular follow-ups with physicians.
The figure is based on the medical records of people who have died from Jan. 1 to the middle of last month, the administration said, adding that studies have suggested an association between underlying cardiovascular diseases and increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
Citing data from the American Heart Association, the HPA said that SARS-CoV-2 can affect the cardiovascular system, increasing the incidence
The number of people using smoking cessation services fell by 150,000 in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Health Promotion Administration (HPA) data showed.
Agency figures showed that 491,127 people sought such services in 2015.
The number rose to more than 750,000 in 2018 before dropping to 480,000 in 2020.
A similar trend can been seen in the US, where data from the American Psychological Association suggest that the number of people calling the smoking cessation hotline in 2020 was the lowest since 2007.
The administration offers subsidies to people who want to access medicines to help quit smoking, HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said