Premier Su announces CECC upgrade

2020/03/03

Premier Su Tseng-chang announced the Central Epidemic Command Center’s elevation to a first-tier entity Feb. 27, with Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung remaining in charge.
 
 An interdepartmental working group, the CECC was previously headed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Centers for Disease Control, sharing resources with both. The upgrade allows it to work directly with the central and local governments under the premier’s supervision and provides access to greater financial and human resources.
 
 Su also thanked the Legislature for swiftly passing a bill signed into law by President Tsai Ing-wen last week designed to mitigate any economic and social impact caused by the global outbreak of COVID-19.
 
 According to Su, the country is performing admirably compared with other affected areas in preventing spread of the coronavirus behind the disease. All government ministries and agencies are working in lockstep to find and isolate infection clusters at the earliest opportunity, he added.
 
 The farsighted decision to halt exports of surgical masks while ramping up production is also bearing fruit, Su said, adding that an additional 30 production lines approved last month with a budget of NT$90 million (US$3 million) are on schedule to commence operations.
 
 Statistics by the CECC reveal 41 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Taiwan as of March 2, with one death. A total of 80,026 cases have been identified in China and 8,233 in 65 other countries and territories.

Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)