President Tsai Ing-wen expressed appreciation to soldiers and local government staffers for safeguarding citizens’ health during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Presidential Office Feb. 1.
Tsai praised the front-line fighters for their contributions to Taiwan’s effective coronavirus response, adding that their efforts have allowed the people to largely go about their lives as usual.
Among those doing their part are soldiers from an ROC (Taiwan) Army chemical warfare group, Tsai said. The brave men and women in uniform have participated disinfection missions following charter flights from the Chinese city of Wuhan and the docking of cruise ship SuperStar Aquarius last year, as well as recent events like a cluster infection at the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Taoyuan General Hospital, she added.
Tsai made the remarks during a visit to Nanmen Park in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City.
According to Tsai, workers from the municipal government’s Department of Environmental Protection have also spared no effort to prevent local spread of the disease. The team has sterilized more than 7,000 places around the city in total, she said.
The government will continue leaving no stone unturned in implementing timely disease prevention measures and protecting the well-being of its 23 million people, the president added.
The Central Epidemic Command Center said last month that a COVID-19 cluster at TGH is being closely monitored as part of ongoing efforts to ensure public health. Targeted actions to contain the outbreak include setting up a command post at the hospital, evacuating and disinfecting potentially contaminated areas, and imposing strict self-health management and safety precautions on local medical staffers, the CECC added.
Latest CECC statistics reveal 912 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Taiwan and eight deaths, with 74 patients still receiving treatment at hospitals countrywide. (YCH-E)
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