Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (???) said Friday the general public should refrain from asking for COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, unless they have already received a positive result from a rapid test.

Chen made the statement at a daily COVID-19 press briefing in response to medical professionals revealing on social media that they are currently short staffed as they face a surge in people reporting to emergency rooms.

Medical professionals said that while many of their colleagues are going into quarantine after contracting COVID-19, they are also noticing a record number of people reporting to emergency rooms asking for PCR tests.

In response, Chen implored the public to refrain from flooding emergency rooms, adding that only those who have tested positive from a rapid test and have obvious symptoms should do so.

Emergency rooms are already busy during their day-to-day operations and a sudden surge of people will simply overload the system, he said.

Without symptoms there is no need for anyone to take either a rapid test or PCR test because they are not medications, only tools to confirm symptoms.

Using rapid tests to confirm COVID-19?

At the press briefing, Chen also responded to Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (???) statement where the mayor suggested all individuals with positive results from a rapid test should be treated as confirmed COVID-19 cases, which received the backing of a number of medical professionals.

Chen listed three reasons why Taiwan is not yet ready to adopt Ko’s proposal, alluding to resources and legal problems that could stem from needlessly subjecting people with false-positives and their family members to quarantine.

Also Friday, Ko announced that starting Saturday the city’s seven community screening stations will only provide PCR tests to individuals who have a positive rapid test result.

Ko urged people without symptoms not to exhaust the city’s medical resources and added that its hospitals will start designating a special passage to expedite those who test positive from a rapid test.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel