The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced two more A(H1N1) cases yesterday, bringing the nation’s total swine flu cases to 21.
Both cases involved individuals who traveled to Taiwan from the US, it said.
As there was a low probability the two had spread the virus — except for family members they came in close contact with — the CDC only advised passengers who had recently come back from the US to monitor their health and report to the CDC should they develop flu-like symptoms.
“Case 20 is a 27-year-old Taiwanese female who went on a vacation with her husband to New York between May 11 and June 6,” CDC spokesman Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said.
After returning from New York via Tokyo, Case 20 was quarantined because she had a fever of 38.4˚C, Shih said.
Her condition was confirmed as swine flu yesterday, he said.
The woman felt ill on June 3 and reported her condition to flight attendants. She wore a facemask during her entire trip, Shih said.
“Our investigation shows that passengers who shared the flight with Case 20 were in no danger of contracting the virus. However, because Case 20’s husband has come into close contact with her, we have given him flu medication as a precaution,” he said.
Case 21 was a 21-year-old female student who studies in Wisconsin, Shih said. Before returning to Taiwan for her summer break, the woman had traveled to New York and Los Angeles, he said.
“Case 21 returned from the US via Los Angeles on June 3. She developed swine flu symptoms on the June 6 and went to hospital on June 7, where she was quarantined as a suspected case,” Shih said.
Case 21’s diagnosis was also confirmed yesterday, Shih said.
“As she did not leave her house after returning from the US, there is little chance she spread the virus to people other than her family. We have already given the five people in her household medication for the flu,” he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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