Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) on Wednesday dismissed concerns that antiviral drugs prescribed to people with COVID-19 will soon be in short supply after the country opens its borders Thursday.
Starting Thursday, Taiwan will open its borders for visitors from all countries and lift the existing three day mandatory quarantine requirement under a new policy, dubbed “0+7,” following a gradual unwinding of border control measures first imposed in March 2020.
Under the “0+7” plan, no quarantine will be mandated and inbound visitors will be allowed outside, to eat at a restaurant and use public transportation, during the seven day “self-initiated epidemic prevention” period, as long as they obtain a negative COVID-19 rapid test every two days.
Responding to media inquiries at a press conference Wednesday, Chuang said that the nation’s existing stockpiles of Paxlovid, developed by Pfizer for the treatment of COVID-19, and Molnupiravir, originally developed for the treatment of influenza at Emory University in the U.S. — are sufficient to meet demand until the end of the year.
The government recently bought an additional 400,000 courses of Paxlovid, Chuang said, adding that the country took delivery of 19,000 courses of the antiviral on Tuesday and will have received a total of 110,000 courses by the end of this week.
With the latest purchase, there are sufficient stocks of the antiviral drugs to last until the end of the year, he added.
The issue was raised by reporters partly because on Tuesday the CECC recorded prescriptions for 10,709 courses of the oral treatments — 8,254 courses of Paxlovid and 2,455 courses of Molnupiravir — both the highest daily number since the middle of August.
Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said the number of Paxlovid and Molnupiravir courses dispensed on Tuesday should be spread over the past few days and represents an artificial daily spike caused by delayed data-reporting during the three-day Double Ten National Day holiday from Oct. 8-10.
According to the CECC, the number of new daily COVID-19 cases Wednesday remains at a plateau in Taiwan.
A total of 52,338 local infections were reported Wednesday, 4.6 percent lower than seven days ago and the third consecutive day the figure has declined week-on-week, the CECC data said.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel