Vice President Chen Chien-jen said Feb. 17 that people in Taiwan should not fear contracting COVID-19 in their daily lives, emphasizing there is no known community spread of the disease in the country.
The vice president’s remarks were made on his personal Facebook account after confirmation of two more local cases the day before by the Centers for Disease Control under the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
A public health expert, Chen received a doctorate in epidemiology from U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University in 1982. He was vice president of Taipei City-based Academia Sinica—Taiwan’s foremost research institution—from 2011 to 2015, and served as health minister during the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
According to Chen, the first of the two new cases, a 61-year-old taxi driver with pre-existing health issues, had contact with three individuals returning from China during the Lunar New Year. He developed respiratory symptoms in late January before passing away earlier this month.
Chen said the CDC has completed screening 73 of 79 people who had been in close contact with the deceased, with 60 negative results and one positive, a 50-year old male family member. The remaining results are pending.
As locally infected cases in Taiwan are still far fewer than imported ones, Chen said there is no community-level transmission and the risk of contracting the disease is low.
Echoing the vice president’s remarks, the CDC said it continues to closely monitor the situation in Taiwan and urged the public to maintain good personal hygiene and follow government advice.
Statistics by the Central Epidemic Command Center under the CDC reveal 22 confirmed cases of the disease in Taiwan as of Feb. 17, with 70,553 identified in China and 752 reported in 27 other countries and territories. (SFC-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw