Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) said yesterday that the swine flu was bound to enter Taiwan, but the public need not panic because the government is fully prepared to fight the virus.
“Sooner or later we may have our first confirmed cases since there is no way to restrict travel,” Yeh said. “There’s no reason to be afraid of the H1N1 virus, because it is curable. The disease may be easy to contract, but its fatality rate is low.”
“We are not worried about the virus entering Taiwan,” he added. “We are worried about it causing community infection and spreading from one person to another.”
Taiwan late last night traced the last person who returned to the country after sharing a flight with a Mexican man who became Asia’s first confirmed case of swine flu.
The individual was among the 27 people who flew from Shanghai to Hong Kong on the same flight as the man and then later flew on to Taiwan on six different flights, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The rest of the 27 had either called the hotline or been found by health officials, it said.
The government yesterday also issued a travel alert for Hong Kong and South Korea after they each confirmed one case of H1N1 infection. Hong Kong on Friday quarantined for seven days 300 guests and staff at a hotel where the Mexican man had stayed after arriving from Shanghai. Thirteen Taiwanese, including a family of seven, were among the quarantined guests, Yeh said.
Meanwhile, South Korea said yesterday a 51-year-old nun tested positive for the H1N1 virus upon her return from Mexico, the country hardest hit by the outbreak.
“The risk [of travel to Hong Kong] has increased and prompted a yellow alert. People should exercise caution and take precautionary measures when traveling to Hong Kong,” a release issued by the Mainland Affairs Office said yesterday morning.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which elevated the travel alert for South Korea to “yellow” yesterday, said the same yellow alert had also been issued on all countries with confirmed cases of the swine flu such as the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Austria, Israel, the UK, the US and Canada. The ministry has issued a red alert for travel to Mexico.
Over the past days, 31 people have been listed as being under examination after developing flu-like symptoms upon returning to Taiwan, including some who requested the tests voluntarily, CDC spokesman Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said.
As of yesterday at noon, 22 of the 31 individuals had tested negative, while the test results of the remaining nine cases were not yet available, Shih said.
An exercise at the Taipei Sungshan Airport was held yesterday as part of the government’s stepped-up measures against the spread of swine flu. During the simulation, airport staff and health workers practiced procedures for checking arrivals and, where necessary, admitting them to the designated Taipei City Hoping Hospital.
Taipei City Hoping Hospital, which was set up as a municipal epidemic prevention hospital after the SARS outbreak in 2003, has 9,100 doses of Tamiflu, Taipei City’s Department of Health said, adding that all confirmed swine flu patients in Taipei would be sent to the hospital.
Department commissioner Allen Chiu (邱文祥) said the hospital was equipped with 77 quarantine rooms with 119 beds, and the staff in the hospital was experienced and well-prepared.
RSS