《TAIPEI TIMES》 Nation to open up despite case rise: Su

STILL FIGHTING: Taiwanese do not yet need to ‘live with COVID-19,’ as the nation has not reached the point where that needs to be considered, the health minister said

By Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff writer, with CNA

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Taiwan still intends to open up gradually with a focus on balancing disease prevention with economic development, despite a spike in locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, Premier Su Tseng-chang （蘇貞昌） said yesterday, calling the approach the “new Taiwan mode.”

The nation has enough doses of COVID-19 vaccines in reserve and sufficient medical resources to allow the government to take some risks and relax restrictions, Su said at the legislature in Taipei.

The government would continue to closely monitor the disease’s spread and make necessary adjustments, he added.

Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Legislator Lee Guei-min （李貴敏） asked Su whether the government considered raising the nationwide COVID-19 alert level to 3 and implementing a lockdown to deal with a rise in cases.

Su said the government does not currently intend to do so.

Separately yesterday, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung （陳時中）, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center （CECC）, said the center planned to further shorten the mandatory quarantine period, after it was on March 7 reduced from 14 days to 10 days.

Asked whether Taiwanese should adjust to living with COVID-19, Chen said that “‘living with the virus’ sounds too serious, as the COVID-19 infection rate in Taiwan is currently only at about 1 percent,” and has not yet reached the point where coexistence must be considered.

The current outbreak can be brought under control if people with severe symptoms are cared for and healthcare capacity is properly managed, he said.

The CECC is not considering raising the alert level at the moment, he added.

The CECC yesterday reported 104 local COVID-19 infections, and 20 local transmission chains with unknown infection sources.

Chen said that each transmission chain should be observed for at least 10 days and another 10 days might be required if it spreads into communities.

While the number of cases linked to a COVID-19 cluster in Keelung has risen to 115 since the initial cases were reported late last month, Chen said it should not be viewed as rapidly spreading in the port city of about 360,000 people.

The center was yesterday to deliver 200,000 COVID-19 home test kits to district offices in Keelung in a bid to identify more cases and contain the virus’ spread, Chen said.

In addition to following existing COVID-19 prevention rules, Chen urged people to get vaccinated.

Regarding concerns over the large gatherings at pop singer A-mei’s （張惠妹） more than 10 concerts starting from yesterday, Chen said the CECC would inform concertgoers that they should call 1922 if they experience symptoms of COVID-19 and report if they test positive for the disease.

Additional reporting by Yang Cheng-yu

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES