Hospitals have reported a surge in the number of emergency medical cases related to the recent cold, wet weather, which has seen the temperature drop to below 10oC in many parts of the nation over the past week.
Central Weather Bureau officials forecast that temperatures were likely to remain low until the end of this week.
At least five people died as a result of the cold weather before the Lunar New Year holiday, hospital sources said.
Following the holiday, a number of patients suffering from hypothermia were sent to Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei, one of whom died, a hospital emergency room staffer said.
Kao Wei-feng (
To cope with the sudden increase in the number of emergency cases, National Taiwan University Hospital has stepped up its management of the wards at its stroke center and cardiology department, a spokesman for the hospital said.
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei County said that, during the past week, the hospital's emergency room was inundated with patients suffering from heart attacks, strokes, asthma, diarrhea or respiratory diseases.
Chang Gung said the number of patients visiting its emergency room grew by between 10 percent and 20 percent during this period.
In related news, shelters in Taipei City and Taipei County have reported about 300 visits from homeless people, while a local social welfare foundation said that it had opened nine shelters around the nation for homeless people.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
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