The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that more than 147,000 people went to hospital outpatient clinics and emergency rooms last week with diarrhea, the highest weekly number of cases this year.
Centers deputy director-general Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said the number of weekly reported cases has continued to increase in the past four weeks.
“The number of diarrhea cases reached a record high last week and 41 of those were cluster cases, with 97 percent of those clusters caused by norovirus infection,” he said, adding that most of the clusters were in preschools and elementary schools.
Among the 108 cluster cases reported in the past four weeks, 67 percent were in schools, followed by 11 percent in restaurants and hotels, and 7 percent at campsites, the centers said.
The norovirus genotype GII.2 is new and has been most commonly spread nationwide since September last year, so many people do not have an immunity to it and it is likely to cause a more serious outbreak.
“Norovirus is easily spread by people who do not wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water after using the toilet,” he said, adding that people should wash their hands with soap and water for about 20 to 30 seconds rather than using a hand sanitizer or alcohol wipes.
“Norovirus can be contracted by touching dirty faucets or doorknobs, and people can be infected when they touch them. Parents and teachers should remind children to wash their hands frequently,” he added.
The centers urged people with norovirus not to go to work or school for at least 48 hours after becoming ill to avoid spreading the virus.
The centers also reported the nation’s first case of serious complications caused by enterovirus infection in a one-and-a-half-year-old boy in southern Taiwan.
CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center director Liu Ting-ping (劉定萍) said the boy had a fever, myoclonus (brief, shock-like jerks of a muscle or a group of muscles) and sleepiness late last month and was hospitalized for herpangina — a viral throat infection — on the day he was taken to see a doctor.
His health worsened the next day and he was diagnosed with encephalitis caused by enterovirus, she said, adding that the boy was treated immediately and recovered after being hospitalized for seven days.
Liu said the progression of enterovirus infection to serious complications can be very fast. Infants who are diagnosed with enterovirus infection should be monitored for symptoms including sleepiness, unconsciousness, poor vitality, weakness of the limbs, myoclonus, continuous vomiting, shortness of breath and rapid heartbeat, and seek medical attention as soon as possible if the symptoms occur.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
RSS