The reoccurrence of SARS in China has triggered stricter quarantine measures at Taiwan's international airports, and temperature checks on all incoming passengers might become an annual occurrence, health officials said yesterday.
Officials of the Center for Disease Control added that the possibility of another SARS epidemic could not be ruled out.
Rules that took force on Saturday evening mean that any passenger arriving with a fever will be transferred directly to a hospital for further examination.
In response to the discovery of a suspected SARS case in China, the CDC yesterday sought advice from public health experts from National Taiwan University Hospital, the National Health Research Institutes, the Taipei City Government and the Tri-Service General Hospital.
"Before the real cause of the sickness is determined, maintaining a high standard of epidemic prevention in Taiwan remains necessary," Chang Shan-chwen (
CDC Deputy Director Shih Wen-yi (
"Having regular temperature checks at international airports could be possible, if SARS is confirmed as an endemic disease that strikes certain areas annually," Shih said.
So far, the World Health Organization has not confirmed that the suspected case reported in Guangdong is a probable one.
Shih said regular temperature checks at international airports also help prevent other diseases, including malaria, dengue fever, and bacillus dysentery, from entering the country.
To prevent a public panic, Shih said, the development of drugs and vaccines in Taiwan would be speeded up.
Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an associate research fellow at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Academia Sinica, said that tracing sources of the virus, which led to the suspected case in Guangdong, could help identify if SARS had already become an endemic disease.
"If the patient had no contact with animals and the virus was actually from other people, then SARS might have become an endemic disease, which could be discovered not only in Guangdong but also elsewhere," Ho said.
An endemic disease is constantly present to a greater or lesser degree in people of a certain class or in people living in a particular location.
CDC officials yesterday urged doctors at local levels around the nation to transfer all patients with fevers to special fever stations established for SARS prevention.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese residents who plan to travel to China in the near future are recommended to keep hand-washing lotion available at all times and to monitor body temperatures for 10 days after returning to Taiwan.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
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