Medical experts in Taipei yesterday urged the government to fund an additional research group to develop a cure and vaccine for the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), after National Taiwan University (NTU) managed to isolate the virus strain.
Nearly 20 academics from NTU, National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), Academia Sinica, the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) and the National Defense Medical Center, as well as some business representatives, yesterday gathered for a closed-door meeting to come up with advice for the government on how to further respond to the virus.
Instead of becoming trapped in discussions about masks and exclusion by the WHO, the government should this week establish a research group to develop a cure and vaccine, said Li Chia-wei (李家維), a professor at NTHU’s Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
Photo: Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM/CDC / Reuters
Li is also editor-in-chief of the Chinese-language version of the Scientific American magazine, which organized the post-meeting news conference.
NTU vice president Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳), a key actor in combating SARS in 2003, said that the school has succeeded in isolating the virus strain and would continue expanding its research by working with the Centers for Disease Control.
Experts in the field are now working “like a plate of loose sand,” while a good leader and more funding are needed to consolidate research efforts and share accurate information to alleviate public concern, said Sophie Chang (張淑芬), chairwoman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (台積電) Education and Culture Foundation.
Asked how the WHO’s exclusion of Taiwan would affect research, NHRI president Liang Kung-yee (梁賡義) said that information about the virus is available through many channels and that determination is the key for making a breakthrough.
As different institutions might have their own positions, the government should appoint an academic leader to coordinate research projects, he added.
More than 30 complete 2019-nCoV genome sequences are available on the Internet, allowing for different experiments, said Alex Ma (馬徹), a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Genomics Research Center.
Ma is part of former Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey’s (翁啟惠) team, which has been studying influenza.
Safety is the major concern for researchers when cultivating 2019-nCoV to make a vaccine, Ma said, adding that it could take years to develop a vaccine.
The genetic sequence of 2019-nCoV is more than 70 percent similar to that of the SARS virus, but what the virus host is and how the human-to-human transmission works are not yet clear, Wong said in a written statement.
While the fatality rate is lower than that of SARS, its transmission is faster and it is likely to become an epidemic like influenza, he said.
As the virus strain has been isolated, further research could include developing antibodies from the blood samples of patients, or new cures using old drugs, he said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)