Authorities have reported more than 6,300 cases in a deadly viral outbreak and yesterday raised the death toll to 26 children.
The latest fatality was in coastal Zhejiang Province. The provincial Health Ministry’s Web site said that in addition to the one death, 1,198 children had been stricken with enterovirus 71.
The ministry appealed for any sick children “to be sent immediately to health clinics” and for people to “report the case immediately to health and education departments.”
There have already been 5,151 cases reported in Anhui Province, where 22 children have died, Xinhua news agency said. Most of the cases were in or near Fuyang.
Xinhua has also reported three deaths in Guangdong.
Enterovirus 71, also known as EV-71, causes a severe form of hand, foot and mouth disease with symptoms including fever, mouth sores and rashes with blisters.
The WHO says the virus normally peaks in June and July.
The WHO representative in China, Hans Troedsson, said the disease was not a threat to the Beijing Olympics because the disease mostly sickens young children.
Troedsson, on Sunday dismissed claims by Chinese media that local authorities in Anhui had tried to cover up the initial stages of the outbreak.
China’s Health Ministry has sent teams to Anhui to coordinate treatment of the disease and prevent its spread.
State-run TV showed workers spraying disinfectant around houses in rural areas outside Fuyang and medical teams visiting families with small children.
A task force headed by Health Minister Chen Zhu (陳竺) has been established to liaise with local-level health officials on control efforts, the ministry said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique