The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday reported three more SARS cases as officials looked into the cause of an outbreak at Yangming Hospital (YMH) on Thursday.
The death toll from SARS remained unchanged at 81 for the 10th straight day.
The total number of SARS-probable cases fell from 678 the previous day to 677, after four cases were reclassified.
Superintendent of Taipei YMH Wang Tai-lung (
"Yangming Hospital is 20 years old and because of that its trafficking plan is not ideal and its buildings are not equipped with the best negative pressure isolation rooms available," Wang said.
"Moreover, the care workers have become a blind spot within the hospital's focus area. They are not hospital employees but the hospital should also pay attention to them," Wang said.
Wu Wen-hao (
Yesterday there were four more cases reported in YMH, pushing the number of SARS patients to 11. Five were probable cases and six were suspected cases. All of them had been transferred to the Armed Force's Sung Shan Hospital for further treatment.
Of the 11 cases, four are care workers and seven are hospital patients, according to the hospital's deputy superintendent Dr. Yang Wen-li (楊文理).
According to further investigations carried out by the BOH, it is suspected that the mother of an infected noodle vendor from Hsinchuang (新莊) might have been the index patient in the hospital.
The Hsinchuang woman stayed in the hospital from May 17 to 27, while the deceased 90-year-old woman, surnamed Shen, was admitted to YMH on April 9 and started developing a very high fever on May 25.
Their stays in the hospital overlapped and there is a possibility that Shen contracted the disease from the Hsinchuang woman, because they were treated in the same negative pressure room. Shen then became a source of other transmissions.
YMH, however, tentatively excluded the possibility of Shen being a SARS patient, said Wu. The BOH was conducting further investigations to get a clearer picture of the infection route within the hospital.
While YMH's cluster infection raised tension just as SARS seemed to be receding, a few days ago there were fears of a community outbreak in South Airport Community (南機場) in Chungcheng district.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS