Singapore is developing an electronic chip that can pinpoint almost instantly whether a patient has flu, dengue fever, SARS or other respiratory illnesses, a newspaper reported yesterday.
The government-run Genome Institute of Singapore said it hoped to launch the respiratory pathogens detection chip, about the size of a matchbox, as early as January, the Sunday Times reported.
Sputum or nasal fluid from an infected person is dropped on to the chip and its detection probes then diagnose the pathogen. The institute said it was working with a major US medical devices company to test the chip soon, but declined to name the party.
"Patients who have flu, dengue fever or SARS all exhibit similar symptoms in the early stages of infection. The chip will be able to test for all this at once, identify if it's one or the other, and doctors will have a clear picture from the start," Ren Ee Chee, the institute's deputy director, told the paper.
Medical experts have repeatedly warned that the virus could re-emerge and that existing tests were not entirely reliable.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
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WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
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