CECC provides clarification on the media report concerning Taiwan nationals stranded at airports due to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's English press release


PublishTime:2020-12-03
Regarding the news report of "Taiwan nationals stranded at airports due to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's English press release", the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) explains that the term "RT-PCR" mentioned in the news report is the most commonly used technique in COVID-19 nucleic acid testing, and it is a widely used name for COVID-19 nucleic acid testing around the world. As the CECC implemented entry measures in July 2020, requiring foreign nationals to provide a COVID-19 nucleic acid test report before entry into Taiwan, the term "COVID-19 RT-PCR test" is used as the English translation of the name for the testing in the English version of a dedicated COVID-19 section on the website of the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC). To avoid misunderstanding caused by differences in testing techniques or names used by laboratories in each country, the CECC has included the names of COVID-19 nucleic acid testing noted on test reports by foreign countries, which can be accepted by Taiwan, in the FAQs on Taiwan CDC's website; these names include the following: PCR, Real-Time PCR, RT-PCR, RT-qPCR (Quantitative Reverse Transcription PCR), NAA (Nucleic acid Amplification), NAAT (Nucleic acid Amplification Test), NAT (Nucleic acid Test), LAMP (Loop/Mediated isothermal Amplification), or Molecular Diagnostics, or others. The Fall-Winter COVID-19 Prevention Program is formulated in accordance with such principles, and the contents of this prevention program are available to the public and can be viewed in full on the dedicated COVID-19 section.