The Department of Health yesterday warned there was a serious risk of avian flu breaking out in Taiwan between January and March next year, and that a US health agency had predicted 14,000 Taiwanese deaths in the event of an outbreak.
Department officials informed a meeting of the National Security Council that a simulation by the US' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted 5.3 million Taiwanese -- nearly one-quarter of the population -- would be infected by avian flu, of which 70,000 would be hospitalized and 14,000 would perish.
President Chen Shui-bian (
He made the remarks at the same National Security Council meeting convened yesterday to discuss the avian-flu threat.
"As the avian-flu virus might become capable of human-to-human transmission, which could result in a more serious impact than SARS, the government should learn lessons from the past and take effective action in advance," Chen said.
He said that the faults of the government during the SARS crisis must not be repeated.
"It would be unforgivable if the government repeated its failures. We should make thoroughgoing preparations and thoroughly implement precautionary measures," he said.
The Department of Health warned that the threat of an epidemic was very real.
"It is not a question anymore of whether it will come. It is a question of when it will hit Taiwan," Minister of Health Hou Sheng-mou (
Hou said that National Health Research Institute director Su Yi-jen (蘇益仁), who is a former director-general of the department's Center for Disease Control, reported on a recent international conference of health and disease experts that predicted an epidemic of bird flu would break out sometime between January and March.
Officials said the government thinks the potential outbreak is a matter of national security. They said the government was preparing for a potential crisis and that it was the government's job to alert the public over the potential impact of avian flu.
"The most serious problem that concerns me is that human beings do not have any immunity against bird flu. An outbreak seems to be very possible if not inevitable," Hou said.
Hou said that if the outbreak takes place, the death toll could approach that of the "Spanish flu" epidemic of 1918. He said that as many as 40 million people around the world died in that epidemic. There were only 3 million residents in Taiwan at that time, but 25,000 died from the disease that year.
"If bird flu breaks out in Taiwan, its impact on the country is expected to be around 10 times greater than that of SARS in 2003," Hou said.
According to the World Health Organization, during the SARS outbreak of 2003, 346 cases were confirmed for Taiwan, out of which 37 people died primarily because of the virus and a further 36 died of SARS-related complications.
Hou said that there were sufficient reserves of medicine and medical supplies, such as surgical masks, to treat the flu. Additional equipment and supplies were still being purchased or produced, he said.
The government intends to enforce stricter surveillance and intervention in relation to illegally imported animals and products, officials said. A stricter schedule of medical examinations will also apply for employees who have an increased risk of exposure to the flu, including farmers, public transport staff and those traveling overseas frequently.
"We will strictly monitor these people's health status and screen any potential cases that may result in the bird flu breaking out into the community," Hou said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it