The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday issued a level-2 travel alert for Wuhan, China, following a field survey in the city by two Taiwanese experts, as well as Japan and Thailand confirming cases linked to a pneumonia outbreak.
The cause of the outbreak has been identified as a new type of coronavirus, with Chinese authorities saying that as of Wednesday, 41 people had been infected, including six in critical condition and one fatality.
CDC Communicable Disease Control Medical Network commander Chuang Yin-ching (莊銀清) and epidemic prevention doctor Hung Min-nan (洪敏南), who conducted the survey in Wuhan from Monday to Wednesday, yesterday told a news conference in Taipei that 30 percent of the Wuhan patients had no direct exposure to the Huanan Seafood City market, the suspected epicenter of the outbreak.
Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
During clinical visits, they observed that patients who are obese or have previously undiagnosed illnesses seemed to be at higher risk of serious complications, Chuang said.
The CDC hopes to clarify whether human-to-human transmission is possible, Hung said, adding that “limited human-to-human transmission” was possibly identified during their visit.
Limited human-to-human transmission generally means that people within 1m of an infected person for about 10 minutes could contract a disease, meaning members of the same household or medical professionals treating infected patients are at higher risk, the CDC said.
In the cases of a married couple infected in Wuhan, the husband worked at the market, but the wife, who had not recently been to the market due to limited mobility, might have contracted the illness from her husband, Hung said.
Of the 41 cases in Wuhan, nearly 70 percent had direct exposure to the market, but 13 patients did not, meaning the source of the outbreak remains a mystery, he said.
Possible explanations provided by China include limited human-to-human transmission, a two-week latent period and an unknown source of infection, Hung said, adding that Chinese authorities have stepped up efforts to collect animal specimens for research.
Chinese authorities have prohibited people who have had close contact with patients from leaving Wuhan, hoping to curb the spread of the disease, Chuang said.
Taipei would not prohibit Taiwanese in Wuhan from returning to Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said, adding that people traveling to Wuhan should avoid traditional markets and hospitals, as well as contact with wild animals or livestock.
As the Lunar New Year is approaching, the agency said that it has intensified border inspections, while Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that as it is the high season for influenza, people should get vaccinated as early as possible.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS