A six-month-old boy yesterday became the nation’s youngest patient to be hospitalized with influenza A(H1N1) after testing positive for the flu virus.
The infant was the third person under one year of age to be hospitalized with the A(H1N1) virus since the outbreak began earlier this year, and the youngest of the three, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said.
Epidemic prevention authorities reported yesterday that five more patients had been hospitalized with the A(H1N1) virus as the new flu strain continued to spread throughout the country.
The newly hospitalized patients included four males and one female, aged six months to 49, said the CECC, adding that these cases brought the total number of A(H1N1) hospitalized patients to 292 since the outbreak began.
Seventeen of these patients have died, while 239 have recovered and 36 remain in the hospital, the CECC said.
As of yesterday, 330 classes in 209 schools around the country were still suspended because of A(H1N1) infections among students. The number of affected classes accounts for 0.22 percent of the total, the CECC said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) announced yesterday that a total of 2.99 million flu vaccine doses would be available starting on Oct. 1 and another 15 million A(H1N1) influenza vaccine doses would come onto the market sometime in November.
Immunization against the new flu strain is expected to begin late next month, with healthcare workers, pregnant women and children between six months and six years of age chosen as priority recipients.
Centers for Disease Control Director-General Steve Kuo (郭旭崧) yesterday said that National Taiwan University Hospital, Tri-service General Hospital and Taipei Medical University-Wan Fang Hospital have completed the first round of human clinical trials on 300 adults for locally produced swine flu vaccine by Adimmune Corp (國光生技).
The result of the trails will be available in approximately three weeks.
In addition to 10 million doses of vaccine to be supplied by Adimmune, the DOH has purchased another 5 million doses from the Swiss-based pharmaceutical firm Novartis.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
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