Hospitals in northern Taiwan tighten visit controls amid COVID-19
ROC Central News Agency
01/19/2021 06:05 PM
Taipei, Jan. 19 (CNA) Major hospitals in Taoyuan and Taipei have tightened their restrictions on visits to inpatients following a rising COVID-19 outbreak in a cluster of domestic infections that began with a doctor who contracted the virus while treating a coronavirus patient at Taoyuan General Hospital.
Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital said Tuesday that those wishing to visit inpatients must first telephone a nursing station or use the hospital's online service application one day ahead of time to make an appointment.
No appointment will be accepted on the actual day of a visit, said the hospital, which is some 24 kilometers from the location of the latest cluster outbreak, which had affected nine people as of Tuesday.
Inpatient visits to regular wards are limited to one visit per day, between 11 a.m. and noon, with up to two people allowed to visit one bed. No one at or under the age of 12 is permitted to visit.
In terms of intensive care units (ICUs), visits are also limited to one per day, between 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., with only one visitor given access per bed, according to the hospital.
In Taipei, National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) also tightened its entry and exit controls from Tuesday, with visits to general wards only allowed between 11 a.m.-noon and 6 p.m.-7 p.m., with a maximum of two people per visit.
Visits to ICUs are limited to one a day from 11 a.m. to noon, with up to two visitors allowed. As with Chang Gung, an appointment is required one day in advance, according to NTUH.
Meanwhile, starting Wednesday, Taipei City Hospital will impose its own access controls, under which no more than two visitors are allowed per inpatient bed, the hospital announced Tuesday.
Visiting times to regular wards and ICUs are limited to 11 a.m.-11:30 a.m. each day at the city-run hospital's Zhongxing, Renai, Heping, Zhongxiao and Yangming branches, as well as the regular wards at the Linsen Chinese Medical and Kunming branches.
Visits to regular wards and IUCs at the Songde branch will be limited to 7 p.m.-8 p.m. each day, the city hospital said.
Other general hospitals will detail their visiting times on their official websites.
To date, Taiwan has recorded 868 cases of COVID-19, with 764 classified as imported. Of the total, 766 patients have recovered, seven have died and 95 are in the hospital, according to data from the Central Epidemic Command Center.
(By Chen Wei-ting, Chen Yu-ting and Elizabeth Hsu)
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