The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) cautioned the public about the risk of a dengue fever outbreak as new cases of locally acquired dengue infection have been confirmed and a tropical storm approaches.
Thirteen dengue infections were reported in the past week, four of which were locally acquired and nine imported, the CDC said, adding that all four locally acquired cases were in Pingtung County, where 63 of the 64 locally acquired cases have been reported so far this year.
One of the four locally acquired cases reported last week is of a different strain from those found previously in Pingtung County, indicating a different source of infection, the disease control agency said, warning that as the number of imported cases this year has also reached a record high for the same periods over the past decade, the risk of a dengue fever outbreak has increased.
Adding to the concerns, a tropical storm is closing in, which is expected to bring torrential rains and leave water that will cause an increase in mosquitoes, the main vector of the disease, said the CDC, who urged the public to eliminate standing water after the storm has passed to lower the mosquito density in their communities.
As of Monday, 64 indigenous cases and 160 imported cases of dengue fever have been reported, with most of the latter originating in Indonesia (58), Thailand (39) and the Philippines (17), the agency said, cautioning those traveling to Southeast Asia to take appropriate precautions.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the