The Department of Health yesterday confirmed that some people had been infected with SARS at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and urged the hospital to take emergency measures to prevent further infections.
"We believe that there is only limited local transmission at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital," said Center for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Chen Tzay-jinn (陳再晉) at a press conference in Taipei. "The situation can be managed professionally."
Emergency measures include preparing isolation areas for SARS patients, the health department said.
A special team of four physicians and three senior nurses dispatched by the CDC yesterday began work at Chang Gung.
Chen said that such emergency measures had been carried out successfully at other hospitals, such as Chung Hsing Municipal Hospital in Taipei.
There are now 107 staff members at the hospital in isolation, including 15 with SARS-like symptoms. Five of the 15 have been identified as probable SARS cases.
Two of the staff members were in critical condition yesterday, including a 28-year-old doctor who was in a coma.
On Tuesday, the 10th, 11th and 12th floors of one of the hospital's buildings were disinfected. The emergency room was closed for disinfection early yesterday morning and reopened later in the day.
Yesterday, all suspected SARS patients were relocated to specially prepared rooms on the 13th floor of the building.
Hospital staff yesterday continued to deny that the infections inside the hospital were out of control.
"There's no cross infection inside the hospital," hospital spokesman Chen Shuen-sheng (陳順勝) said.
"The limited infection can be attributed to close contact with a probable SARS patient who concealed her medical history," Chen said, referring to a woman who had stayed at Jen Chi Hospital in Taipei, which was closed after a number of SARS cases were discovered there.
The woman, who has not been named, also infected a woman who was sharing a room with her and the other woman's relatives.
Chen Chao-long (
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, located on the border between Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County, is one of the largest in southern Taiwan. Both local authorities have been working together to manage the crisis.
"We will work closely with neighboring counties to trace possible sources [of SARS infections] as soon as possible," Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday.
Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (
The crisis at Chang Gung has also put a strain on nearby Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, where the number of people visiting the emergency room rose yesterday to about 5,000 from the usual average of about 3,000.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern