Taipei City Government yesterday became embroiled in a conflict with the central government about how to respond to and prevent the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Taipei has insisted that the disease be listed as a statutory communicable disease, but their request was turned down by the Cabinet's Department of Health.
In response to the Cabinet's refusal, the director of Taipei's Bureau of Health, Chiou Shu-ti (
Instead of naming SARS as a statutory communicable disease, the DOH has termed the disease as a "quasi-statutory communicable disease."
Designating SARS as a statutory communicable disease would allow heath authorities to quarantine any individuals suspected of being infecting with the disease.
So far, the DOH has only separated "probable cases" of SARS for medical treatment, while those who have had direct contact with the patients were not subject to any quarantine measures for observation.
Chiou said though the DOH has activated the reporting mechanism for SARS cases nation-wide, prevention measures would only be partially implemented if the disease was not legally listed to authorize health officials to enforce the necessary quarantine measures.
"I have never seen any legal terms such as a `quasi-statutory communicable disease' before," Chiou said yesterday.
According to the Disease Prevention Law, Chiou said, the central authority has the power to designate any new disease whose cause or cure may not be known yet under the "fourth category of statutory communicable disease" for the control and prevention of the disease.
SARS can be applied to a legal framework, Chiou said, in order to allow the health authorities to conduct prevention measures.
"In Singapore, the heath authority has demanded that hundreds of suspected SARS cases stay home as a preventitive measure, whereas here in Taipei, we have encountered difficulties enforcing such a demand as there is no legal ground for us to act," Chiou said.
"I don't understand why the DOH is not interested in designating the disease under the existing fourth category as a statutory communicable disease, and instead has created a new term `quasi-statutory communicable disease,'" he said.
Chiu said that when health officials carry out disease-prevention work, they could infringe on people's rights by closing schools or companies, providing personal medical records, limiting the mobility of individuals and investigating an individual's health background. and history.
A legal basis is necessary so that prevention work and human rights can both be taken care of, Chiu said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS