The defense ministry is implementing a series of measures designed to keep COVID-19 out of military bases.
On Tuesday, the director of the National Armed Forces Epidemic Command Center said that 94% of Taiwan’s military personnel have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, 25% have received a third dose, or booster shot.
Still, the military isn’t taking any chances as health authorities scramble to contain a recent rise in domestic COVID cases.
In addition to enforcing temperature checks and handwashing, the defense ministry is also postponing events involving the mixing of people from different bases. It is also minimizing the number of personnel involved in training duties, stopping unnecessary movement of personnel, and having personnel perform administrative tasks remotely.
Ahead of the Lunar New Year, the defense ministry has given the military four tasks: strengthening COVID prevention on bases, raising COVID prevention awareness among personnel, ensuring adequate manpower for disinfection operations, and ensuring the medical system’s capacity to provide treatment.
To ensure that local governments can disinfect public spaces as needed over the holiday, the military’s chemical corps will be on 24-hour standby, with soldiers getting holiday leave in shifts.