All of the eight suspected H7N9 cases in Taiwan have been cleared of infection, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
It added that it intends to send staff to China to gain a better understanding of the possibility of human-to-human transmissions of the H7N9 avian flu virus.
Of the eight suspected H7N9 cases that have been reported in Taiwan, two were visitors from China’s Henan and Jiangsu provinces, with no symptoms of infection at the time of entry into Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
“The rest of the suspected cases were all Taiwanese. Two were found to be infected by the H1N1 influenza virus,” Chou said.
The eight suspected cases have all been cleared of infection, according to the latest report by the Central Epidemic Disease Surveillance Command Center.
The center, which is a newly established H7N9 epidemic prevention and control center, said that as of yesterday morning, there were no reports of fever among visitors from China’s affected areas — Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui — at the ports of entry.
CDC Director-General Chang Feng-yee (張峰義), commander-in-chief of the command center, said the CDC has been trying to contact the Chinese authorities and is “in principle” planning to dispatch personnel to China to obtain first-hand information about the virus.
Chang declined to give further details.
When asked about the Cross-Strait Cooperation Agreement on Medicine and Public Health Affairs, which states that “both parties agree to notify each other of epidemic information of communicable diseases that may constitute or have constituted serious emergent public health events at the earliest possible time” and whether the agreement has helped cross-strait communication concerning the H7N9 flu and the CDC’s dispatch plan, Chang said: “It still requires the consent of the Chinese government to send our envoys over, just as they would need our permission if they were sending people to Taiwan.”
“We are also now practicing strict infection control and surveillance measures, raising vigilance in three major areas: ports of entry, families and communities and hospitals,” he said.
“We require every person suspected of infection, regardless of the severity of the symptoms, to be hospitalized until cleared of infection. This can reduce the possibility of the spread of the virus, and those infected with the disease can receive early treatment,” he added.
Saying that the H7N9 bird flu would come to Taiwan “sooner or later” given the geographical proximity of and the frequent visits between Taiwan and China, Chang added that “as long as we exercise the highest level of vigilance, we will be able to contain and control it.”
Separately yesterday, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) said it is cooperating with health authorities to enforce stricter inspection and monitoring measures at national borders, adding that it has established an emergency control unit.
The enhanced measures at ports and airports include halting the import of poultry products from China, Hong Kong and Macau, and asking the Coast Guard Administration to help enforce stricter inspections to prevent smuggled products, the bureau said.
Domestic inspections of poultry samples have also been increased, it said, adding that as of the end of last month, samples have been collected from 574 poultry and pet bird sites and 2,213 bird dropping samples from migratory birds have been examined, with no H7N9 avian influenza virus discovered so far.
The bureau said it has also instructed local departments to enforce stricter inspections at poultry farms, report any abnormal situations immediately and help the farms to conduct disinfection operations.
On reports that the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture said pigeon samples from Shanghai were found to contain the H7N9 avian influenza virus, BAPHIQ deputy head Huang Kuo-ching (黃國青) said pigeons and pet birds in Taiwan have always been monitored for avian influenza and so far H7N9 avian influenza has not been found in their droppings.
However, if the H7N9 avian influenza continues to spread and causes possible infections in Taiwan, then pigeon races may be canceled, he added.
Meanwhile, Hualien Hospital said it would hold a flu drill next week given the increasing number of confirmed human cases of the H7N9 avian flu strain in China and since the county where the hospital is located is a popular destination for Chinese tourists.
The drill will be modeled on the measures taken during a SARS outbreak in Taiwan in 2003, focusing on hospital entry and exit arrangements, fever screening, quarantine and treatment, said the hospital, which offers medical tourism services. The hospital is popular among Chinese visitors seeking such services.
Additional reporting by CNA
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare
MORE DEMOCRACY: The only solution to Taiwan’s current democratic issues involves more democracy, including Constitutional Court rulings and citizens exercising their civil rights , Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is not the “motherland” of the Republic of China (ROC) and has never owned Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. The speech was the third in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to deliver across Taiwan. Taiwan is facing external threats from China, Lai said at a Lions Clubs International banquet in Hsinchu. For example, on June 21 the army detected 12 Chinese aircraft, eight of which entered Taiwanese waters, as well as six Chinese warships that remained in the waters around Taiwan, he said. Beyond military and political intimidation, Taiwan
RSS