As of Monday, 69 locally acquired cases and 99 imported cases of dengue fever had been reported this year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said, advising the public to take proper measures to reduce the risk of a potential outbreak.
Five locally acquired cases of dengue fever were reported in Pingtung County last week, taking the total number of locally acquired cases to 53 this year in Pingtung alone, CDC official Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said, adding that in the same week 10 imported cases from Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines were reported.
The agency also announced that five more cases of Japanese encephalitis (JE) have been confirmed, with all the infected patients experiencing the onset of the disease between June 10 and June 30.
“Four were hospitalized, one of whom is currently in intensive care, and one has since been discharged,” Chuang said.
As of yesterday, a total of nine confirmed cases of JE had been reported this year, according to the agency.
“However, compared with the number cases recorded in the same period last year, which was 26, this year’s nine is not that many,” Chuang said.
CDC physician Philip Yi-chun Lo (羅一鈞) said that pigs are the main host of the JE virus in Taiwan, so people who live near hog farms should take heed of the sanitary condition of their surroundings.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
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Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all