Eight Taiwanese wind musicians who are attending an international music festival in Jeju Island, South Korea, tested positive for the A(H1N1) flu virus on Monday, South Korean health authorities said yesterday.
Six other Taiwanese wind instrument players were put under observation on Monday after they developed fevers, the authorities said.
Five Malaysians who were also attending the 2009 International Wind Instrument Festival on Jeju Island were the first participants to test positive for the A(H1N1) flu strain on Sunday, South Korean health authorities said.
ONGOING
Meanwhile, the Central Epidemic Command Center said yesterday that approximately 9,000 new people are confirmed with A(H1N1) influenza each week, saying it recommended canceling classes should an infection occur.
SCHOOLS
A kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, high school or cram school class should be canceled for five days if more than two students are confirmed as infected within three days, said the center’s spokesman Lin Ting (林頂), emphasizing that the measure applied to all types of flu.
MILITARY
Meanwhile, Lin confirmed that 81 out of 2,000 rookies at a Ministry of the Interior boot camp for alternative military service in Taichung’s Chengkungling (成功嶺) army base tested positive for the A(H1N1) flu virus after a screening test.
From July 1 through yesterday, there have been 43 swine flu cluster infections and 25 severe cases.
Among those 25 severe cases, two patients had died, three remained in intensive care, one other was in hospital, while 19 were released after making a complete recovery.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a