The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said 11 townships across seven counties had been placed on red alert for enterovirus and that some 10 to 15 children could be expected to die from the illness this year.
Health officials said they were monitoring any developments regarding the virus and reminded parents not to ignore the potential danger.
"If there are three or more cases of the enterovirus in any classroom, students will be told to stay home for at least three weeks," said Tu Hsin-che (涂醒哲), director of the DOH's Bureau of Communicable Disease Control (疾病管制局).
Tu made the comments during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan's Sanitation, Environment, and Social Welfare Committee yesterday, where legislators echoed growing public concern over the news of three confirmed deaths so far this year from enterovirus infection.
Health officials said that enterovirus 71 (EV-71) infections had been found in eight townships in the counties of Chiayi, Changhua, Taoyuan, Taipei and Kaohsiung. Suspected cases were also reported in three other townships in Changhua, Taoyuan, and Taipei counties.
Health officials warned that vigilance must be maintained in areas placed on red alert, especially in the following weeks, and that the best prevention was good personal hygiene, including washing one's hands often and covering the mouth when coughing or sneezing.
In 1998, about 10,000 reported EV-71 infection cases were reported in Taiwan, causing 75 deaths and 400 serious illnesses. Symptoms of EV-71 infection include fever, rashes and ulcers in the mouth, and on the feet and hands. Health officials say there is no known vaccine for the virus, which has previously broken out in Malaysia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Japan.
Since children under five are most vulnerable to the disease, parents have been advised to be cautious of possible outbreaks in kindergartens.
In Kaohsiung County, where two children have died from the deadly virus, more than 30,000 children attending 406 different kindergartens were taught how to wash their hands thoroughly yesterday.
Teachers also suggested parents avoid taking children to public areas, in order to lower the possibility of getting infected.
The director-general of the DOH, Lee Ming-liang (
However, public health specialists in southern Taiwan told the Taipei Times yesterday that the outbreak had highlighted the poor coordination between local and central heath departments.
"When something like this happens, local health officials are always waiting for instructions from experts in Taipei, and this is not the most efficient way to handle the situation," said Chen Meei-shia (
Letting others know the importance of good hygiene in preventing the disease is difficult in southern Taiwan because of a lack of public health resources, Chen said.
"If more advanced public health research centers could be established in the south to train more professionals to provide information and counseling about the virus, the public would be better equipped to prevent these outbreaks," Chen said.
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
STILL ON THE TABLE: The government is not precluding advanced nuclear power generation if it is proven safer and the nuclear waste issue is solved, the premier said Taiwan is willing to be in step with the world by considering new methods of nuclear energy generation and to discuss alternative approaches to provide more stable power generation and help support industries, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. The government would continue to develop diverse and green energy solutions, which include considering advances in nuclear energy generation, he added. Cho’s remarks echoed President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments in an interview last month, saying the government is not precluding “advanced and newer nuclear power generation” if it is proven to be safer and the issue of nuclear waste is resolved. Lai’s comment had
‘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