Members of the Asia Pacific Inter-City SARS Prevention Forum yesterday signed a cooperation memorandum, agreeing to establish a Geographical Information System (GIS), an online network to communicate real-time information about SARS and other infectious diseases.
Taipei City Government Bureau of Health Director Chang Hang (張珩) reported that a total of 15 participants from the US, Canada, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan had signed the memorandum, representing cities, hospitals, and governmental as well as non-governmental organizations.
According to Chang, participants were asked to clarify the organizations and cities they represented before signing. Canada's Commissioner of Public Health, Colin D'Cunha, signed on behalf of Ontario.
Chang stated that representatives from Hong Kong's Hospital Authority and Prince of Wales Hospital had also signed the memorandum, pointing towards more transparency with regards to information on China's SARS situation.
Singapore's Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the Singapore General Hospital were also represented.
Taipei Mayor Ma Yin-jeou (馬英九) signed the memorandum on behalf of the city.
"We've had this idea in mind since the early stages of the SARS outbreak. If SARS comes back now, we can handle it better the second time around," Ma said.
"Forum participants are all at the frontline of SARS prevention. At the very least, they know each other now and can easily pick up the telephone and communicate when necessary," he said.
Ma emphasized that transparency in international relations comes down to human relations.
Chang agreed, reporting that it would take at least 10 days to communicate SARS information via the World Health Organization. He stressed that the said memorandum was established because the speed of sharing information was an important factor.
According to Chang, details still need to be discussed. He explained that the potential disclosure of a patient's private information was an issue that had to be worked out, suggesting that the GIS would require only the location of infected patients.
He reported that forum participants had tentatively agreed to meet once a year.
The memorandum is a token of the recognition that it is in the mutual interest of the participants to develop a cooperative defense system. The memorandum states that participants will freely and openly exchange their experiences with SARS and other communicable diseases, alert each other of cross-border transmissions in a timely fashion and cooperate in research, training and other relevant disciplines.
The memorandum further includes an agreement to collaborate in the fight to control and eradicate not only SARS, but also dengue fever, cholera, Japanese encephalitis, malaria, meningococcal meningitis, E. coli infection, open tuberculosis, AIDS, bacillary dysentery, anthrax, influenza and other communicable diseases.
Chang said that the memorandum's vision was similar to that of an emergency operation center, an information hub that would allow efficient communication.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS