The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday that its policy toward A(H1N1) influenza would change from trying to prevent it from entering the country to reducing its impact, following the WHO decision to upgrade its pandemic alert to level six.
“We will have domestic infections sooner or later. It is not necessary anymore for us to try to keep it out. It is now more important for us to reduce the impact,” Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) told a press conference at the CECC after a meeting in response to the WHO’s move.
Yeh said he was satisfied with what Taiwanese epidemiologists have done so far.
“We need more manpower to work on vaccine production so we need to stop certain anti-epidemic work,” Yeh said.
The minister promised that the vaccine would be ready by the autumn.
“Probably sometime in September,” he said.
Meanwhile, the CECC also announced the 37th confirmed domestic swine flu case yesterday. CECC spokesman Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said that the patient was a 23-year-old female college student from a group who recently returned from Thailand.
Shih said that there was no need for people to cancel or postpone trips to foreign countries, but he urged tour guides and travel agencies not to plan outings to crowded public locations, such as nightclubs during trips.
Shih also reminded tour guides to help travelers should they start to show flu-like symptoms.
Failure to do so could lead to a fine of between NT$10,000 and NT$150,000.
“Once a tour guide discovers a group member is feeling unwell, the guide should immediately help them find a doctor. Tour guides will be fined if their negligence helps the spread of the virus,” Shih said.
“We found that all the college students who were infected in Thailand had been to dinner shows or local nightclubs. These places are quite risky, especially as there are more and more confirmed cases in Thailand,” Shih said.
In response to Yeh’s prediction that there would be a large-scale domestic infection in the future, Shih said there was nothing to fear.
“This is something we already knew and are already prepared for, so there is no need to panic,” Shih said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
RSS