Dr. Huang Li-Min, an expert of children’s infectious disease, said #Taiwan could see the second wave of local #COVID19 cases as winter arrives, and he predicts that the resurgence could likely emerge in hospitals. tw.mobi.yahoo.com/home/醫憂疫情再起-入冬恐爆院內感染-220941067.htm
Huang said the only way to prevent a major local #COVID19 outbreak is if the Taiwanese government can get enough vaccines once they are available. The CDC also acknowledged that there is a likelihood that one asymptomatic patients may have not been detected.
The CDC advises Taiwan citizens to thoroughly wear masks and maintain social distance in order to lower the risk of #COVID19 transmission. Huang said during the four-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, many tourist sites have seen citizens gathering in crowd without maintaining ...
... the right social distance. Huang said these are extremely worrying signs and all frontline medical workers are all bracing for the second wave to emerge.
Dr. Chiu Cheng-Tsun at Changgeng Memorial Hospital said the number of patients with upper respiratory symptoms have increased over the last few weeks, and Taiwanese people have been less aware of the need to put on masks when compared to March or April.
Chiu said if there were community level #COVID19 transmission in #Taiwan over the next few months, it could cause the medical system to collapse.
Huang also added that there have been a rise of #COVID19 confirmed cases being spotted after foreigners return to their countries from #Taiwan, and unless those countries’ tests are all inaccurate, these are seriously signs that there are community level transmission in #Taiwan.
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United States President Joe Biden on Friday (Dec 20) approved US$571.3 million in defence assistance for #Taiwan, the White House said, as the Democrat prepares to leave office ahead of the January inauguration of Donald Trump.
In a brief statement, the White House said Biden had authorised his secretary of state to "direct the drawdown of up to US$571.3 million in defence articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan".
The statement did not provide details of the military assistance package, which comes less than three months after a similar package worth US$567 million was authorised.
My latest: #China has sent officials to the Russian central bank to study the effects of Western sanctions for a better understanding of how it would be affected if it were to invade Taiwan.
Beijing had already set up a task force months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, which was tasked with producing reports about the impacts of Western sanctions on the Russian economy.
China is “very interested” in “practically everything” about the sanctions, including potentially positive effects on domestic production, a person with knowledge of the specialist task force told the Wall Street Journal.
A Beijing court sentenced veteran Chinese state media journalist Dong Yuyu on Friday to seven years in prison for espionage, a family member told Reuters.
Former Guangming Daily editor and journalist Dong Yuyu, 62, was detained by police in Beijing in February 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat, according to a statement from the US National Press Club, and later charged with espionage.
There was a heavy police presence outside Beijing’s No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court, with at least seven police cars parked nearby. Reuters journalists were asked to leave the area.
Australia and the Philippines said their militaries would conduct a joint maritime activity with Japan, New Zealand and the United States in the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, which covers one of Asia's most sensitive sites. channelnewsasia.com/asia/philippin…
"The Maritime Cooperative Activity demonstrates our collective commitment to strengthen regional and international cooperation in support of a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific," Australia's Department of Defence said.
The joint exercise comes after a series of air and sea encounters between the Philippines and China, which have sparred over disputed areas of the South China Sea, including the Scarborough Shoal, one of Asia's most contested features.
My latest: As #China and Russia look to deepen cooperation in the Arctic, analysts cite concern about increasing geopolitical competition in the region, forcing countries to think more about how to respond to potential threats.
Following a meeting between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow on August 21, China released an expansive communique outlining ways the two countries are boosting cooperation.
On the Arctic, Beijing and Moscow pledged to strengthen cooperation in areas including shipping development, navigation safety, polar ship technology and construction.
The EU is expected to notify #China that it will impose tariffs on electric vehicle imports this week, firing the starting gun on a potential summer trade war with Beijing. theguardian.com/business/artic…
A formal pre-disclosure of tariffs could happen as early as Wednesday, after a lengthy investigation into China’s state subsidies for its car manufacturing, which is predicted to conclude that massive support continues to be concentrated on the EV sector.
Chinese manufacturers are already bracing themselves for new import duties, but experts anticipate that Beijing will retaliate with countermeasures that could hit a range of EU exports to the country, ranging from cognac to dairy products.