Day: June 26, 2022

Taiwan reported 39,646 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, all but 60 domestically transmitted, and 134 deaths from the disease.

The deceased ranged in age from their 30s to over 90 years old. They included 127 individuals who had chronic illnesses or other severe diseases and 48 who were unvaccinated, the CECC said.

Severe infections

The CECC also said that 137 previously reported COVID-19 cases had become severe, while 222 other individuals had developed moderate symptoms.

Among the new severe cases is an 11-year-old girl who was diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) but has since recovered, CECC spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang (???) said.

The girl developed a fever on May 30 and tested positive that day. On May 31, the fever subsided but she began to develop a rash, Chuang said.

She had a fever again on June 4, which reached 40.1 degrees Celsius, and also experienced chills, headache, dizziness and a cough. These symptoms persisted even after seeing a doctor and taking medication.

On June 6, the girl was taken to the emergency room after she vomited, experienced a lack of appetite and felt drowsy, on top of having a stomach ache.

She was diagnosed with MIS-C and admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU), but has since recovered and was discharged from hospital on June 14, Chuang said

To date, 69 children under the age of 13 have developed severe illnesses from COVID-19, of whom 20 have passed away.

Of the 3,544,821 domestic cases reported in Taiwan this year, 6,319 have been classified as severe infections and 8,562 as moderate, accounting for 0.18 percent and 0.24 percent of the total, respectively, according to CECC data as of June 25.

In all other cases, the infected individuals were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, the CECC said.

Of the domestic cases Sunday, Taichung reported the highest number, with 5,520, followed by New Taipei with 5,320 and Kaohsiung with 5,309.

Taoyuan recorded 3,791 cases, Tainan 3,786, Changhua County 2,761, Taipei 2,734, Pingtung County 1,655, Yunlin County 1,111 and Hsinchu County 1,008.

Miaoli County recorded 906 cases, Nantou County 902, Hsinchu City 837, Yilan County 786, Chiayi County 757, Hualien County 587, Chiayi City 548, Keelung 484, Taitung County 396, Penghu County 201, Kinmen County 166 and the Matsu Islands 21.

To date, Taiwan has recorded 3,613,345 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 3,599,004 domestic infections.

With the 134 deaths reported Sunday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 fatalities in the country rose to 6,254.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

Taiwan’s top trade negotiator John Deng (???), who was supposed to head the country’s delegation to the SelectUSA Investment Summit this week, has been confirmed with COVID-19 and will be replaced by National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (???), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Sunday.

Deng developed a cough and other symptoms upon arrival in Mexico City June 18 and tested positive for the virus. He subsequently conducted self-isolation in a hotel in accordance with the relevant epidemic prevention and quarantine regulations in the country and adjusted his itinerary accordingly.

Deng received a medical diagnosis from a doctor in Mexico and was prescribed medication for treating COVID-19. He is currently in stable condition, according to MOFA.

Deng was visiting Mexico to facilitate economic trade cooperation and exchanges between the two countries.

Due to being infected with the virus, Deng was not able to head to the United States to attend meetings related to the SelectUSA Investment Summit, an annual event sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce aimed at attracting foreign investment into the U.S.

This year, the summit is set to be held in Maryland from June 26 to 29.

However, as Deng has mild symptoms of the disease, the possibility of holding the first meeting of the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade scheduled for later this week between him and the Office of the United States Trade Representative virtually cannot be excluded, according to the Office of Trade Negotiations under Taiwan’s Cabinet.

In related news, Taiwan’s representative office in the U.S. held a dinner party in Washington for the country’s delegation to the SelectUSA Investment Summit on Saturday, with Arun Venkataraman, the assistant secretary of commerce for global markets, on hand to welcome them.

The dinner party had 265 participants, making the Taiwan delegation the largest group from another country for the fourth consecutive year to the SelectUSA Investment Summit.

In his address at the dinner party Saturday, Venkataraman said that the U.S. and Taiwan maintain close economic relations and in recent years, bilateral trade and investment ties have been continuously strengthened.

Last year, Taiwan was the U.S.’ 8th largest trading partner, he said.

The launch of Taiwan-U.S. Initiative on 21st-Century Trade on June 1 is also aimed at continuously deepening bilateral trade ties, facilitating innovations and boosting economic growth, Venkataraman added.

Sandra Oudkirk, director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), and Jasjit Singh, executive director of SelectUSA, were also present at the dinner party.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

Several groups of Taiwanese lawmakers will depart the country on Sunday for the United States, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary, to conduct “parliamentary diplomacy” during the Legislative Yuan recess.

The legislative delegation that is heading for the U.S. is being led by Johnny Chiang (???), former chair of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the convener of the Legislature’s Diplomacy and National Defense Committee, and is scheduled to visit Washington, D.C., Phoenix, Arizona, and Los Angeles.

According to a press release issued by Chiang, the delegation is set to meet with American lawmakers who have previously visited Taiwan, including Representative Mario Diaz Balart, co-chair of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus.

The delegation will also meet with Taiwan’s top envoy to Washington Hsiao Bi-khim (???) and a number of senior U.S. officials, and will visit Taiwanese businesspersons and attend overseas compatriot activities to jointly enhance Taipei-Washington relations, said Chiang in the press release.

Other members of the delegation include four KMT lawmakers, Wu Sz-huai (???), Yeh Yu-lan (???), Lee De-wei (???), Hung Mong-kai (???), and independent lawmaker Freddy Lim (???).

The other delegations, which are scheduled to depart on Sunday night, consist of lawmakers who are members of the Taiwan-Poland Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association, Taiwan-Slovakia Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association, and Taiwan-Hungary Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association, respectively.

Taiwanese lawmakers are scheduled to meet their counterparts in the three countries and also visit NGOs in Poland and refugee centers there that have sheltered Ukrainian refugees from the Russian invasion.

Meanwhile, independent lawmaker Freddy Lim and Hung Sun-han (???) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are concluding a trip to the U.S. to attend the eighth World Parliamentarians’ Conventions on Tibet (WPCT) held in Washington, D.C.

According to a Hung’s Facebook post, he and Lim also visited the U.S. Department of State and several local NGOs.

They also met with Nury A. Turkel, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and Damon Wilson, president and CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy, he said in the post.

Lawmakers in Taiwan often travel overseas in the summer during the Legislative Yuan recession before the lawmaker body reopens in September.

Over the past two years, however, due to travel restrictions imposed for the COVID-19 pandemic, they rarely traveled overseas during the legislative recess.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel