The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said 20 imported cases of dengue fever were reported last week, mostly from Southeast Asian countries, while the centers issued travel warnings for 57 countries and territories over the Zika virus.
The dengue cases involved seven people from the Philippines, four from Indonesia, three from Singapore, two from Cambodia and one each from Malaysia, Thailand, the Maldives and Laos, it said.
CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center director Liu Ting-ping (劉定萍) said that with dengue epidemics in Southeast Asia at a peak or rising and many people traveling abroad in summer, the centers urges people to take precautionary measures against mosquito bites and see a doctor if symptoms arise after entering Taiwan.
No confirmed cases of Japanese encephalitis were reported last week and the number of reported cases has dropped slightly, but the mosquito-borne disease is still at its peak in Taiwan, she said.
The WHO on Wednesday last week said that 67 countries and territories had reported evidence of vector-borne Zika virus transmission since last year.
Liu said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday last week confirmed active local transmission of the Zika virus in a section of Miami Beach, in addition to an area in Wynwood, both in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and urged pregnant women to avoid traveling to the areas.
She said that among the five locally transmitted cases confirmed in the Miami Beach areas, one was a 44-year-old woman from Taiwan, who visited Florida on a business trip between July 31 and Aug. 11, and the centers have taken measures to avoid the virus from spreading.
“People who have been in those areas since mid-July and are experiencing symptoms should see a doctor for an examination and tell the doctor about their travel history,” Liu said, adding that many cases of Zika infection do not show clear symptoms.
The Taiwanese agency has issued travel warnings for nations and territories with active Zika transmission.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to 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), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner