The number of SARS cases in the country fell yesterday after six cases were reclassified, and National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) said it had developed a faster way of detecting antibodies to the disease.
With one new probable SARS case, the total stood at 679 yesterday, from 684 the day before. The number of deaths remained unchanged at 81.
The Department of Health(DOH) said it was significant for the country's bid to get the World Health Organization to lift its travel advisory on Taiwan that yesterday was the sixth day in a row there had been fewer that five new SARS cases.
The DOH yesterday also unveiled a new method of detecting SARS antibodies, called immunochromatography (ICT).
"With ICT, now it is much quicker and simpler to test whether a patient is infected with SARS," said Su Yi-jen (蘇益仁), director of the Center for Disease Control.
"It takes only 30 minutes to test whether a patient has the coronavirus," added Su.
Chen Pei-jer (
While less than 100 percent accurate, the new test detects SARS antibodies better than existing methods, Chen said.
Meanwhile, the DOH and National Taiwan University Medical School said yesterday that the source of the SARS outbreak at Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital did not originate from the Amoy Gardens Complex in Hong Kong.
It was thought that a woman named Tsao, who brought the disease to Hoping Hospital, contracted the disease from an Amoy resident surnamed Tseng while on a train to Taichung.
Tseng and the brother he was visiting in Taichung both died of the disease.
The medical school studied the virus' gene sequence and found that the specimen from Hoping Hospital was different from the one found at the Hong Kong apartment complex, which was linked to earlier cases in Taiwan.
"So far we still cannot nail down the source of the virus at Hoping," Chen said.
He said that Tseng, a Taiwanese businessman based in China called Chin who returned to Taiwan in March and NTUH doctor Tsai Tzu-Hsiu (蔡子修) had contracted the virus from a similar source. These cases were the first to be discovered in the country.
Cases found at Hoping Hospital, Jen Chi Hospital and a noodle vendor from Hsinchuang who was thought to have spread the disease at Mackay Hospital had a different source, Chen said.
The researchers said they didn't know whether knowledge of the gene sequence would help with treatment of the disease.
"We still don't know whether the sequences will tell us about how serious the disease is or whether the symptoms for every patient are the same, but we surely hope that this can help us to learn more about the epidemic and find better cures," said Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池), director of the Department of Internal Medicine at NTUH.
Also see story:
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
The nation’s usually punctual high-speed rail system yesterday was hit by major disruptions after all scheduled services were canceled and replaced with three hourly trains offering only non-reserved seating, affecting more than 200,000 passengers. Preliminary findings indicate the disruption was caused by a faulty power module in a track switch control cabinet, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) said, adding that as a full system inspection could only be conducted after operations end for the day, a decision on whether normal service would resume today would be announced before the first train departs. During a routine inspection early yesterday, a switch signal abnormality
RSS