The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday confirmed that two China Airlines (CAL) flight attendants, a man and a woman, might have severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
DOH deputy director-general Lee Lung-teng (
Colleagues serving on the same flights have also been put under domestic quarantine, Lee said.
According to Lee, the stewardess was onboard CAL flight CI018 from Tokyo to Hawaii on March 31, took flight CI017 back to Tokyo on April 1 and took flight CI017 back to Taipei on April 3.
Lee said the woman began to have fever on March 31 but was not admitted to a hospital.
On April 1, she fell very ill on the way from Hawaii to Tokyo. She was sent to a hospital after landing in Tokyo but the local hospital did not diagnose her as having SARS, according to Lee.
"The airline flew her from Tokyo back to Taipei on April 3, placing her in the first-class cabin," Lee said.
The airline has stressed the stewardess was under complete quarantine during the trip and that there were no other passengers in the first-class cabin, Lee said.
Nevertheless, Lee said the health authorities in Taoyuan are investigating whether the airline violated the Communicable Disease Prevention Law (傳染病防治法) by placing a person suspected of having SARS on its flight.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (
The Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei, where the woman is hospitalized, has told the DOH that she does not have SARS.
The hospital said another virus caused her illness and that her disease is not infectious.
However, Lee said the department's SARS specialist team has ruled that the woman is a SARS case because she matched all the World Health Organization's (WHO) definitions of SARS.
Meanwhile, the CAL steward said he might have been infected by a passenger on flight CI628 from Hong Kong to Kaohsiung, according to Lee
"The steward, surnamed Cheng, said the passenger asked him for a face mask during the trip," Lee said.
According to Lee, Cheng returned to Taiwan from Thailand on April 2 and fell ill on April 4.
Lee said anyone, including foreigners, who continue to roam freely or travel while knowing they have been infected with SARS, would be breaking the law
Stepping up its efforts to halt the spread of the disease, the DOH announced yesterday that everyone entering the country via CKS International Airport would have their temperature checked.
The new measure took effect yesterday afternoon.
"Anyone found to have symptoms of SARS will be immediately sent to a local hospital and quarantined," Lee said.
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