People should not lower their guard against seasonal influenza, despite a decline in the number of flu victims, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday following a press conference in which it thanked vaccine manufacturers for providing free vaccine for the public.
Although the prevalence of flu has shown signs of waning, it is still the peak period, CDC Deputy Director-General Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said, adding that there were 11 reported flu deaths between Feb. 20 and Saturday.
The people who died — 10 of whom were infected with the A(H1N1) strain — had not been vaccinated and all had underlying medical conditions, Shih said.
The total number of deaths since July last year were tallied at 96, the CDC said.
CDC Director-General Chang Feng-yee (張峰義) said health officials were unsure when the flu season would end, but referred to data from the US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that the A(H1N1) season should finish by the end of May.
“Since we don’t know when the flu season will end, we still encourage people in high-risk groups — the elderly, the sick and infants — and those who could easily spread the virus to others to get inoculated,” Chang said.
Statistics show that more under-12s visited hospitals last week with flu-like symptoms, a phenomenon associated with the resumption of school after the winter break, community-acquired infection and a low vaccination rate among children.
Chang also said that the government is urging hospitals to set up special clinics to treat flu-like illnesses, in order to prevent hospital cross-infection.
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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