Taiwan has won much praise for its effective response to COVID-19, which for a long time kept the virus outside its borders. However, the virus has mutated and evolved, and eventually it found an Achilles’ heel in the form of China Airlines pilots. From the airline’s Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel, the fire spread to seedy “teahouses” in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), where it caused an outbreak of infections that has hit Taipei and New Taipei City the hardest.
Now the whole of Taiwan is under a level 3 COVID-19 alert and the streets are deserted.
Minister of Health and
COVID-19: CAL, Novotel bear most blame: DPP
EXECUTIVE YUAN ACTION: Quarantines for pilots and flight crew were eased, but there seems to have been lapses in the decisionmaking process, officials said
By Jason Pan / Staff reporter
China Airlines (CAL) and Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel should bear most of the responsibility for the COVID-19 outbreak that prompted a nationwide alert, as they contravened quarantine regulations, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said yesterday.
The airline failed to properly implement the “3+11” policy, which called for three days of isolation and 11 days of self-health management for pilots and flight crew, DPP caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) told a briefing at the legislature in Taipei.
The government is seeking legislative approval to expand its COVID-19 relief fund to pay cash subsidies to families with young children, totaling up to NT$25 billion (NT$90,035 million), a Cabinet source said yesterday.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) earlier yesterday convened a Cabinet meeting to discuss a possible budget allocation to aid people affected by a surge in domestic COVID-19 cases this month, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said.
The Cabinet agreed on prioritizing families with young children and children with disabilities, Lo said.
Families with children who attend elementary school or younger, and children with disabilities who attend junior-high or high school
A political talk show on the SET News channel has sparked public outrage after it referred to a COVID-19 variant that is spreading in the nation as the “Wanhua virus” (萬華病毒).
Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華) has been severely affected by an outbreak since a cluster infection was detected in the area last month.
The National Communications Commission (NCC) said it has received 26 complaints about broadcast media coverage of the outbreak since the Central Epidemic Command Center raised the COVID-19 warning in Taipei and New Taipei City to level 3 on May 15.
Eight of the complaints were about an episode of the