Premier Su Tseng-chang has thanked frontline medical workers at an official reopening ceremony for Taoyuan General Hospital.
The ceremony marks the end of a difficult period for the northern Taiwanese hospital. In January it became the center of a domestic outbreak of COVID-19, after a doctor there was infected by a patient. In all, health authorities have counted 21 cases linked to the cluster, one of them fatal. The hospital’s patients were all evacuated in late January so that hospital buildings could be disinfected, and the hospital has remained shut since. After authorities declared the outbreak officially over on February 7, work began on preparing the hospital for reopening.
At the reopening ceremony, the premier said that Taiwan’s success in dealing with the domestic outbreak was thanks to the Taoyuan hospital’s highly-trained staff.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung has also thanked Taoyuan authorities for their help. He says the reason authorities were able to successfully contain the cluster infection was that the Taoyuan City Government cooperated effectively with emergency measures. But both officials warn that Taiwan still has to remain vigilant in the face of the ongoing global pandemic.