The Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday a four-year-old girl might have been infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Lee Lung-teng (
As no probable SARS cases had been reported from last Thursday to Monday, the DOH said on Monday it expected Taiwan could be removed from the World Health Organization's list of SARS-affected areas shortly.
However, the appearance of four more probable cases of SARS yesterday has dashed the expectation. The girl was one of four new probable cases, Lee said.
Lee said the girl's father was also a probable SARS case. "The girl's father was discharged from the hospital on March 31. The girl began to experience a fever after her father returned home," Lee said.
On April 3, the girl had high fever of 38.6?C. Her doctor administered antibiotics and the medication worked well. She was discharged from the hospital last Friday, Lee said.
Lee said although the girl has recovered from her illness, the specialist team of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) tackling SARS still decided to list her as a probable case.
The team decided to list the child as a probable SARS case for three reasons. "First, she has had close contact with another SARS case [her father]. Second, she had high fever and she had pneumonia symptoms," Lee said.
Nevertheless, Huang Fu-yuan (
"The CDC had been closely observing the child even before she fell ill because she was a family member of a probable SARS case," Huang said.
Huang noted in order to efficiently contain the spread of SARS, Taiwan has imposed stricter isolation measures than required by the WHO.
The WHO recommends that all SARS cases should be put under domestic quarantine for seven days after they are discharged from hospitals because the cases might still continue to spread the disease after their recovery.
"The CDC asked all probable SARS cases discharged from hospitals to stay under home quarantine for 14 days, twice the duration demanded by the WHO," Huang said.
According to the CDC, 158 possible SARS cases have been reported as of yesterday afternoon, of which 27 are probable cases and 42 suspected cases. Seventy-nine cases have been ruled out as SARS and 10 cases are still to be verified, the CDC said.
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to make advanced 3-nanometer chips in Japan, stepping up its semiconductor manufacturing roadmap in the country in a triumph for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s technology ambitions. TSMC is to adopt cutting-edge technology for its second wafer fab in Kumamoto, company chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. That is an upgrade from an original blueprint to produce 7-nanometer chips by late next year, people familiar with the matter said. TSMC began mass production at its first plant in Japan’s Kumamoto in late 2024. Its second fab, which is still under construction, was originally focused on
EMERGING FIELDS: The Chinese president said that the two countries would explore cooperation in green technology, the digital economy and artificial intelligence Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for an “equal and orderly multipolar world” in the face of “unilateral bullying,” in an apparent jab at the US. Xi was speaking during talks in Beijing with Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, the first South American leader to visit China since US special forces captured then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last month — an operation that Beijing condemned as a violation of sovereignty. Orsi follows a slew of leaders to have visited China seeking to boost ties with the world’s second-largest economy to hedge against US President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpredictable administration. “The international situation is fraught
Opposition parties not passing defense funding harms Taiwan’s national security, two US senators said separately in rare public criticism. “I am disappointed to see Taiwan’s opposition parties in parliament [the legislature] slash President [William] Lai’s (賴清德) defense budget so dramatically,” Roger Wicker, a Republican who chairs the US Senate Armed Forces Committee, said on social media. “The original proposal funded urgently needed weapons systems. Taiwan’s parliament should reconsider — especially with rising Chinese threats,” he added. Wicker’s post linked to an article published by Bloomberg that said that the two opposition parties’ move was “potentially jeopardizing the purchases of billions of dollars of
RSS