Three more people have tested positive for the (A)H1N1 flu virus, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, bringing Taiwan’s total number of confirmed cases to six.
A 30-year-old woman who was in Manila from last Saturday to Wednesday had tested positive for A(H1N1) influenza, the CDC told a press conference yesterday afternoon. Test results released last night showed her daughter had also tested positive for (A)H1N1.
“She [the woman] felt unwell while in Manila and went to a clinic on Thursday after she developed a fever. Her daughter was also screened after she developed a fever,” CDC spokesman Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said.
The girl’s school, Guangfu Elementary School in Chungho (中和), Taipei County, will be shut until Friday. All staff and students will be required to take medication, Shih said.
He said the woman did not have a fever when she returned to Taiwan on Wednesday, so was not stopped at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Later that day the woman visited a friend and had dinner there with six other people, Shih said. All six have been advised to take medication, he said.
The other new case announced yesterday was a female student, the sister of a woman the CDC confirmed as being infected late on Thursday.
The two sisters returned from San Francisco on Thursday on an EVA Airways flight.
The nation’s second confirmed case involved a Taiwanese female also studying in the US. She returned to Taiwan from New York via Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Taiwan’s first confirmed case was an Australian doctor who arrived by plane from New York via Hong Kong on Monday. He is expected to be discharged as early as tonight, the CDC said.
The infections among the students yesterday prompted the Ministry of Education to suspend a school trip it had sponsored to Japan.
It also advised students against visiting countries with high levels of (A)H1N1 infection.
The ministry also urged students overseas with flu symptoms to seek immediate treatment.
In related news, the local travel industry is worried that the swine flu outbreak will dampen interest in traveling abroad this summer with travel agents already offering large discounts to help stimulate demand.
Ting Lai (丁萊), CEO of the 2009 Taipei International Tourism Exposition, said prices for trips abroad this summer would be slashed because of the flu outbreak.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better