■ Health
Hoping Hospital nurse dies
Lin Chia-ling (林佳鈴), a 29-year-old nurse employed at Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital, passed away yesterday afternoon at Taipei Veterans General Hospital. She was the third medical worker to die of SARS-related illnesses. Hoping head nurse Chen Ching-chiu (陳靜秋) died May 1 and Jen Chi Hospital nurse Hu Keui-fang (胡貴芳) passed away May 7. Lin had been confined to Hoping Hospital when it was sealed off last month. When staff were changed at the hospital, Lin was sent to the Alternative Service Training Center on April 26 for quarantine. However, she developed a fever the same day and was sent back to the hospital before being transferred to the Armed Forces Sung Shan Hospital the next day. With her health deteriorating, Lin was finally transferred to the Veterans Hospital on May 3.
■ Health
Matsu reports SARS case
SARS has arrived on Matsu, the Center for Disease Control confirmed yesterday. A military officer surnamed Jan, who flew to Matsu on May 1, has been confirmed as a probable SARS case. The officer fell ill on May 2 and was hospitalized the next day. The 22 passengers and crew members on that flight have been under home quarantine since May 7. Local officials said on Saturday that they do not rule out sealing off the island from Taiwan if the SARS epidemic continues to escalate and encroach on Matsu.
■ Health
SARS test-kits arrive
A total of 2,000 enzyme test kits for the SARS virus, provided by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have arrived, a medical-research source said yesterday. The 2,000 test kits of Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, better known as ELISA, will be used to evaluate reported SARS cases, to help determine whether patients have contracted SARS, said Dr. Su Yi-jen (蘇益仁), director of the Clinical Research Division under the National Health Research Institute (NHRI). The 2,000 kits -- which detect the antibody of the SARS-associated coronavirus -- can be used to examine and evaluate 1,000 people, as two doses are required per person to complete the test. The test kits arrived in Taipei late on Saturday. According to Su, the NHRI ordered the kits to help accelerate laboratory tests of the coronavirus after Taiwan's Center for Disease Control was unable to cope with demand.
■ Mother's day
Chen visits model moms
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) visited two model mothers yesterday to express his respect and admiration for their contribution to the nation as part of Mother's Day celebrations. Chen presented fresh bundles of carnations and other gifts to You Yueh-chu (游月珠), a model mother selected by military units, and Chung A-hsiu (鐘阿秀), a model mother chosen by the police. He also took advantage of the occasion to wish all mothers around the nation a happy Mother's Day. Accompanied by Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) and Taipei County Magistrate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Chen arrived at You's Hsintien home early in the morning. As yesterday happened to be You's 68th birthday, Chen also wished her many happy returns. Later in the day, Chen traveled to a mountain village in Pinglin, Taipei County, to visit Chung, 62, in recognition of her voluntary services to local police officers.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,