The Department of Health's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) urged the public yesterday to maintain personal hygiene to avoid being infected with conjunctivitis, commonly known as pinkeye.
Responding to newspaper reports yesterday that pinkeye has spread rapidly nationwide, particularly in Keelung and Yunlin County, CDC Deputy Director-General Shih Wen-yi (
Shih said that since the conjunctivitis outbreak has not been declared an epidemic, the CDC is unable to determine exactly how many people in the country have been infected. However, he added that the center has been told by hospitals that the number of pinkeye patients has increased rapidly over the past few days.
Shih further said that the center had already contacted the Ministry of Education and epidemiologists to work out measures to cope with the situation. Hospitals under the direct jurisdiction of the Department of Health had been instructed to take measures to prevent further spread of the disease, he said.
Noting that the last time that an outbreak of conjunctivitis occurred in Taiwan was in the 1970s and that it was the result of enterovirus type S70, Shih said that this time around the outbreak also seemed to have been caused by enterovirus.
Lu Da-wen (呂大文), director of the the Ophthalmology Department of Tri-Service General Hospital, said that pinkeye is a highly contagious epidemic disease which can be caused by infections (from bacteria and viruses), allergies, or substances that irritate the eyes. Judging from recent cases he has treated, he said he believed the current pinkeye outbreak is related mainly to enterovirus.
Meanwhile, Chiu Hsiao-wen (邱孝文), deputy director of Yunlin County's Bureau of Education, discounted a report in yesterday's China Times that more than 1,000 people in Yunlin have been infected. He said that, as of yesterday morning, the bureau had not been notified by any school in the county of an outbreak of the disease.
Kao Kun-yu (
Kao called for students, particularly young children, and all members of the public to seek medical help if they suspect they have pinkeye -- symptoms of which include inflammation of the conjunctiva, the clear membrane that covers the white part of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelids.
To avoid being infected, Kao said children should be taught to wash their hands often with water and soap. They should also not share eye-droppers, tissues, wash cloths, towels or pillowcases, Kao added.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard