Premier Su Tseng-chang said on Thursday that although the past few days have seen a reduction and stabilization in the number of new COVID-19 cases, there remains the potential for rapid changes in the situation. He called on his executive team to stand ready to adapt and improve the epidemic response to cope with changes arising from mutant strains of the virus, and to refine and review moving forward.
The premier made his remarks following a briefing from the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the current status of and response to the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19.
On May 15, the Central Epidemic Command Center raised the COVID-19 alert levels for Taipei and New Taipei cities to Level 3, and four days later extended the Level 3 alert to the entire nation. Premier Su said that the daily number of new confirmed cases has dropped from about 500 during the first two weeks, down to between 300 and 400 in the third week, with a further decrease to 200-plus in the fourth week. Taiwan has now gone four consecutive days with less than 200 confirmed cases daily, an indication that the COVID-19 situation is improving. Nevertheless, the government sees no room for slack in pandemic response and will continue to fight the virus, the premier said.
As for medical supplies, Premier Su said the nation currently is equipped with sufficient hospital beds and medicine to provide care to all confirmed cases. The focus of medical treatment in hospitals is to minimize critical illness and lower mortality while preventing those with mild or moderate symptoms from deteriorating into severe cases, thereby helping all patients recover effectively. In addition, the premier said that the acquisition of equipment and medicines to serve this purpose should be accelerated.
The government will also endeavor to conduct early screening for COVID-19 cases. Whereas disease prevention policy in the past centered on border controls, the current focus is on finding confirmed cases within Taiwan as quickly as possible, by making COVID-19 screening widely available for communities, companies and individuals in hot spot areas. These efforts will enable rapid detection of potential cases and put an end to the chain of transmission.
The 1.24 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine donated by Japan have been distributed to cities and counties in two batches—on Sunday and Thursday—while the second batch of Moderna vaccine will be distributed Friday. All cities and counties have actively begun administering the jabs this week. The premier directed ministries and agencies to keep a close eye on this week's vaccine rollout as an important reference for large-scale vaccinations in the near future.