Hong Kong ordered more than half a million primary and kindergarten students to stay home from school for two weeks starting yesterday after three schoolchildren died amid recent outbreaks of the flu.
The government has asked one of the territory's top scientists to investigate the three deaths. But the WHO said yesterday there was no sign that the situation in Hong Kong was anything but a regular seasonal flu outbreak.
The outbreak has not been linked to bird flu, which has been detected in birds in Hong Kong. Bird flu remains difficult for humans to catch, though scientists fear the virus that causes it could eventually mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans.
The new flu outbreak raised memories of the deadly SARS, which surfaced in southern China in November 2002 and later killed 299 people in Hong Kong. That disease ground the bustling financial center to a halt as locals avoided going out, while the government was criticized for not responding quickly enough.
The government has ordered all kindergartens, primary and special education schools closed for two weeks starting yesterday, Health Secretary York Chow (周一嶽) said. It was the first time the government has closed schools for public health reasons since SARS.
Chow said he acted quickly because "when you wait until you have all the data, it's too late."
He said he was particularly concerned that two of the three dead children were treated at the same hospital, and that children may be especially vulnerable to the disease.
Chow has also asked Yuen Kwok-yung (
The closure will affect nearly 560,000 students at 1,745 schools, based on enrollment figures from the 2006 to 2007 academic year.
There was not sign yet of the major public panic that followed the SARS outbreak five years ago. Residents have not started wearing masks en masse as they did during SARS.
Since March 6, health officials have recorded nine flu outbreaks in Hong Kong, mostly at schools, affecting 532 people in the territory of nearly 7 million.
WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said the first child who died tested negative for all types of influenza viruses. The second child tested positive for the flu but also suffered from an underlying metabolic disease. The third -- a seven-year-old boy who died on Tuesday -- had both the flu and encephalitis.
Another WHO spokesman, Peter Cordingley, said yesterday from Manila that "this is just regular seasonal flu."
"There is nothing exceptional about what's happening in Hong Kong," he said, noting the territory has suffered worse flu outbreaks in recent years.
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2
PLAN: Nations would receive US$5m a year if they could advance Taiwan’s international participation, diversify supply chains away from China or counter Beijing’s influence The US House of Representatives Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Friday introduced a bill that would approve US$120 million to be spent on supporting Taiwan’s international space and tackling coercion by China. The bipartisan legislation — the Taiwan Allies Fund Act — was proposed ahead of the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on May 20. The committee said in a statement that the bill “strengthens Taiwan’s global network of friends by authorizing [US]$120 million over three years for the State Department and USAID [US Agency
‘DIGITAL SOLIDARITY’: Taiwan, the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are to install and operate a cable that would connect up to 100,000 people in the Pacific Islands Taiwan, the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are working together to install undersea cables as a demonstration of digital solidarity, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday. Blinken talked about the cooperation in a speech he delivered at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. He said that the US International Cyberspace and Digital Strategy launched by the US Department of State “treats digital solidarity as our North Star.” “Solidarity informs our approach not only to digital technologies, but to all key foundational technologies,” Blinken said. Under the strategy, the US is to work with international partners “to shape the design, development,
POSSIBLE SOLUTION: The government needs to convey regulations to advertising platforms based overseas and access to the offenders could be restricted, Minister said The government is considering asking TikTok and other large digital advertising platforms to have agents based in Taiwan in accordance with the draft act on the prevention and control of fraud and crime, which is scheduled to be reviewed at an Executive Yuan meeting today, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The draft act is one of the legislative measures being introduced by the government to tackle scams, including the draft technology investigation and security act, and amendments to the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法). They are also to be reviewed