A total of 71 new cases of influenza with complications have been recorded, with four more fatalities, since Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said.
As of Friday, health officials had confirmed 366 flu cases with complications, 18 of which were fatal, it said.
The latest victims were a five-year-old boy in Taoyuan County, a 62-year-old man in Chiayi County, an 85-year-old woman in New Taipei City and a 74-year-old man in Miaoli County, all of who died after contracting Type B or Type AH3 influenza.
None of the individuals who died had been vaccinated, the CDC said.
The CDC said that even though the number of flu cases was half of that recorded in the same period a year ago, there was still a 5 percent mortality rate.
The Department of Health (DOH) advised those infected with the flu virus to stay at home and avoid public places, especially those at high risk of developing flu-related complications, such as infants, toddlers, the elderly and patients with chronic diseases.
In the event that individuals contract such symptoms as fast or labored breathing, bluish or gray skin or lips, chest pain, low blood pressure, thick or blood-streaked sputum and fever lasting for 48 hours or more, they should see a doctor or seek immediate treatment at a hospital, the department said.
A total of 1,727 special influenza clinics have been set up nationwide to fight the virus.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
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