Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital's Lin Chung-wei (
"We are sorry to announce that Lin passed away around 5:15pm. He was suffering from serious lung fibrosis and we are sorry that we could not save his life," said Cathay Hospital chairman Chen Kai-mo (陳楷模).
The 28-year-old Penghu native and Taipei Medical University graduate, who had just become a resident at the hospital in March, tended to SARS patients before becoming ill and developing SARS-related symptoms, including a fever, on April 20.
On April 29, Lin was transferred from Hoping Hospital to Cathay Hospital for medical treatment. The Cathay Hospital immediately performed an intubation on Lin due to serious lung fibrosis.
According to the Cathay Hospital, Lin's condition was unstable from the time he arrived and he was going in and out of consciousness.
Meanwhile, Lin Yung-hsiang (
Lin Yung-hsiang, 28, was hospitalized on May 4 after developing a fever. According to Chang Gung, he is in critical but stable condition.
Along with him, there are another 70 medical personnel who are under quarantined or who have been hospitalized at Chung Gung. Their condition was listed as stable.
In related news, a firefighter in Taipei passed away early yesterday morning, possibly due to SARS. It was also reported that three other firefighters had possibly contracted SARS. It has yet to be confirmed whether they are SARS cases.
Kuo Kuo-chan (
According to the Taipei City Government, Kuo began experiencing a fever on April 28 while on leave at his home in Taoyuan. He went to a couple of private clinics before he was finally transferred to Taoyuan General Hospital, administered by the Department of Health, on May 8.
He was intubated on May 14 and died yesterday.
The source of Kuo's SARS infection is unknown. The possibility of Kuo having escorted a SARS patient to a hospital has been tentatively excluded.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious