Three more measles cases have been confirmed in Taiwan, bringing the number since the beginning of the year to 20, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
The new cases include a man in his 30s who visited Macau during the Lunar New Year holiday, and a woman, also in her 30s, who has not traveled overseas in recently.
The two patients developed symptoms on Feb. 15 and Feb. 16, the CDC said.
The third patient is a university student in his 20s who came into contact with a person seeking treatment at a hospital in Taipei after she contracted measles in Vietnam.
The student developed symptoms on Feb. 19.
All three new patients are being quarantined at home, the CDC said.
Of the 164 people who came into contact with person who caught measles in Vietnam, five were later confirmed to have contracted the disease, the CDC said.
Measles are highly contagious, said CDC Deputy Director-General Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞).
When a measles patient coughs or sneezes in a room, the virus can linger in the air for two hours, and anyone nearby who has not been vaccinated can be infected, Lo said.
People should visit a doctor and wear a gauze mask if they develop symptoms, such as fever, rash, rhinitis, pink eye or coughing, the CDC said.
Vaccination is the best way to prevent infection, the CDC said, adding that parents should ensure the timely vaccination of children younger than one and those younger than five who have not started elementary school, and avoid taking unvaccinated children to areas affected by the disease.
If such travel is unavoidable, it is recommended that children aged between six months and one year should receive one dose of self-paid measles, mumps and rubella vaccine at a local clinic two weeks prior to travel.
Of this year’s confirmed measles cases, nine have been imported — five from the Philippines and four from Vietnam, CDC data showed.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching