This year’s first Zika virus case was yesterday confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which also said it had recorded five new measles cases.
A teenage boy was with his family visiting relatives in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City from Feb. 5, and developed a fever on Thursday last week, the centers said.
When he returned to Taiwan on Friday last week, the boy was screened for infection at the airport quarantine station due to his fever, the centers said.
The results came back yesterday, with the boy testing positive for the Zika virus, it said.
While his symptoms have already improved and his family members have not developed similar symptoms, the boy is to be quarantined at home until Monday next week, the centers said.
Twenty-one Zika virus cases have been confirmed in Taiwan since 2016, all of which were contracted in other countries — mostly Southeast Asian countries.
The centers maintained its level two travel advisory for Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, India and the Maldives, as well as a few areas where the disease is still spreading.
People are advised to take preventive measures against mosquito bites and sexual transmission of the disease in those areas, the centers said.
The centers on Tuesday confirmed two indigenous cases of measles — a woman in her 20s and an eight-month-old baby — and yesterday reported another three — two women and a man, all in their 30s.
They all live in northern Taiwan.
The woman in her 20s and the three people in their 30s were all in contact with a patient who was infected with measles in Vietnam, the centers said, adding that the infant’s infection source is still under investigation.
The two women who were yesterday confirmed to have measles worked at a clinic in Taipei where the patient sought treatment, and the man who contracted it was a family member who had accompanied the patient to a hospital, it said.
As the woman in her twenties had traveled on a bus in Taipei and the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit system on Feb. 14 during the communicable period, and the others who were infected had also visited public spaces in Taipei, people who have measles symptoms are advised to wear a mask and immediately seek medical treatment, the centers said.
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