A six-month-old boy yesterday became the nation’s youngest patient to be hospitalized with influenza A(H1N1) after testing positive for the flu virus.
The infant was the third person under one year of age to be hospitalized with the A(H1N1) virus since the outbreak began earlier this year, and the youngest of the three, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said.
Epidemic prevention authorities reported yesterday that five more patients had been hospitalized with the A(H1N1) virus as the new flu strain continued to spread throughout the country.
The newly hospitalized patients included four males and one female, aged six months to 49, said the CECC, adding that these cases brought the total number of A(H1N1) hospitalized patients to 292 since the outbreak began.
Seventeen of these patients have died, while 239 have recovered and 36 remain in the hospital, the CECC said.
As of yesterday, 330 classes in 209 schools around the country were still suspended because of A(H1N1) infections among students. The number of affected classes accounts for 0.22 percent of the total, the CECC said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) announced yesterday that a total of 2.99 million flu vaccine doses would be available starting on Oct. 1 and another 15 million A(H1N1) influenza vaccine doses would come onto the market sometime in November.
Immunization against the new flu strain is expected to begin late next month, with healthcare workers, pregnant women and children between six months and six years of age chosen as priority recipients.
Centers for Disease Control Director-General Steve Kuo (郭旭崧) yesterday said that National Taiwan University Hospital, Tri-service General Hospital and Taipei Medical University-Wan Fang Hospital have completed the first round of human clinical trials on 300 adults for locally produced swine flu vaccine by Adimmune Corp (國光生技).
The result of the trails will be available in approximately three weeks.
In addition to 10 million doses of vaccine to be supplied by Adimmune, the DOH has purchased another 5 million doses from the Swiss-based pharmaceutical firm Novartis.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS