Australia’s swine flu cases increased to 16 after new infections were confirmed in Victoria state, while South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong also added to their tolls.
Two more people were diagnosed with the virus in Victoria, Australia, the Herald Sun newspaper reported, citing state Health Minister Daniel Andrews. South Korea confirmed four more swine flu cases, increasing its total to 10; Hong Kong’s government confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number of infections in the city to six and Japan confirmed a new case in the city of Osaka.
Confirmed swine flu cases globally total 12,022 in 43 countries, with 86 people killed by the virus, the WHO’s latest tally showed. Still, the WHO said on Friday that the virus would need to be global and show significant harm to people before declaring a pandemic.
The Philippines yesterday reported the nation’s second confirmed case of swine flu in a 50-year-old woman who arrived in the country on May 20 from the US, Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a statement on the ministry’s Web site.
Five US citizens and a Vietnamese citizen are among the confirmed cases in South Korea, with the others being South Korean, the nation’s health ministry said. There are three probable cases among passengers who arrived in Incheoen International Airport yesterday via an Asian Airlines Inc flight, it said.
Singapore had two additional swine flu cases for investigation, the city-state’s health ministry said on its Web site yesterday. Of the 42 cases investigated so far, 34 cases have tested negative for swine flu and eight tested positive for the typical seasonal flu strains, the health ministry said.
China had eight confirmed cases of the A(H1N1) flu virus, a statement on the health ministry Web site said.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
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
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
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
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