The nation’s flu outbreak is still at its peak, as 320 new cases of severe flu-related complications were reported last week — the highest weekly reported number since 2011, including 14 deaths.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said the flu outbreak reached its peak around the Lunar New Year holidays.
CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center division chief Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said about 70 percent of the recent flu cases were A(H1N1) influenza infections, and a total of 771 were severe flu-related complication cases, including 69 deaths, have been reported during the influenza season — since July 1 last year.
Up to 95 percent of the people who died had not been vaccinated against influenza.
Chou said that although the accumulated number of severe flu-related complication cases this season has not yet surpassed the total of 1,617 recorded in 2010, more than 40 percent of the cases reported this year are people aged between 50 and 64, which is a new concern for the centers.
“We discovered that the percentage of middle-aged adults with severe flu-related complications has increased, so to protect their health, the CDC is making efforts to secure funding to include people aged between 50 and 64 in the government-funded influenza vaccinations,” he said.
Chou said the CDC is hoping to expand the eligible list by October, which should allow 5.12 million more people (aged between 50 and 64) to be protected by vaccination.
With a predicted vaccination rate of 40 percent, the CDC will have to purchase about 1.85 million more doses of vaccine.
The CDC urged people to wash their hands and practice good respiratory hygiene, try to avoid going to crowded public spaces with poor ventilation, wear a facial mask if they suffer from respiratory symptoms, and seek medical treatment immediately when they experience flu-like symptoms.
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
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