There is no need to isolate patients infected with the NDM-1 superbug, or New Delhi metallo beta-lactamase, who have not shown any symptoms, Department of Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) said on Thursday.
“It is even more dangerous to keep such patients in hospitals, as the bacteria are easily transmitted through medical procedures,” Yaung said in a report delivered at the Legislative Yuan’s Social Benefits and Health and Environment Committees on preventive measures for the superbug.
Chang Feng-yee (張峰義), -director-general of the DOH’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC), also contended that preventing superbug patients from leaving hospital lacks a legal basis in Taiwan and poses a violation of their basic human rights.
In line with WHO guidelines on dealing with people found to be carriers of NDM-1, hospitals need not isolate such people as long as they show no symptoms, Chang said.
Various countries around the world, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Japan, and the US, have reported a total of more than 200 NDM-1 cases, all originating from the Indian subcontinent, he said.
Judging from this, it is possible that a recently identified Taiwanese carrier picked up the bacteria through a hospital procedure in India rather than in Taiwan, he added.
The CDC will talk on the telephone with officials of the Indian hospital in an effort to trace the origin of the man’s infection, Chang said.
Former CDC director-general Su Ih-jen (蘇益仁), who is now vice president of National Cheng Kung University Hospital, said it is extremely important to keep NDM-1 from entering Taiwan and infected patients who are discharged from hospital must continue to conduct periodic self-health examinations.
Following Yaung’s decision, a Taiwanese cable TV station cameraman was discharged by a local hospital after being infected at an Indian hospital where he had received treatment for gunshot wounds sustained in a terrorist attack in New Delhi.
Yaung said he would hold himself responsible if the issue led to widespread infections.
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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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching