Gov’t Not to Ease Border Controls in Short Term in View of External Pandemic Escalation

 Gov’t Not to Ease Border Controls in Short Term in View of External Pandemic Escalation

Source: UDN

July 30, 2020

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), director of the Central Epidemic Command Center, stated that border controls would not be eased in the short term in consideration of the rapid escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, with the number of confirmed cases continuously doubling and the death toll reaching 680,000.  

A foreign contract worker, of Thai nationality, who worked in Taoyuan, tested positive for COVID-19 after returning to Thailand, and the Command Center didn’t rule out this as a domestic case. Chen stated yesterday that the screening result of the worker was considered a weak positive, adding that Thailand agreed to conduct a second screening for the worker in order to clarify the infection situation.  

In the interest of prudence, disease-prevention staff checked the medical consultation records of contract workers of Thai nationality working in Taoyuan from the National Health Insurance Administration, finding that 43 of them had developed suspicious symptoms of COVID-19, such as upper respiratory illness or diarrhea in June or July. The Department of Public Health, Taoyuan City, is slated to complete screenings for the 43 contract workers on August 1 in order to get a better understanding of the risks of community transmissions.

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