In preparation for this year’s Summer Universiade, 26 dengue fever rapid detection stations are to be opened at community clinics in Taipei, the Taipei City Department of Health said on Monday.
The Universiade is expected to attract contestants from about 150 nations and more than 160,000 visitors to Taipei in August which is often the peak period for dengue fever in Taiwan, the Taipei City Government said.
As of yesterday, a total of 73 dengue cases were reported and confirmed across the nation with 15 cases in Taipei reported this year. All cases were imported from other countries, the department said, adding that most people were infected in Malaysia or Indonesia.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
There are 23 rapid test stations in the city, including six medical centers, five Taipei City Hospital branches and 12 district healthcare centers, the department said, adding that it has expanded the service to include 26 community clinics.
The health department is also preparing disease prevention measures near competition and practice venues, as well as increasing inspections in high-risk areas, it said.
It has also published material about dengue prevention measures and cleaning methods to eliminate mosquito breeding sources, which should be followed by the public between May 8 and Dec. 31.
Disease Control and Prevention director Chen Shao-ching (陳少卿) said people should remove standing water where mosquitoes might lay eggs, clean their living environment and conform to inspection guidelines if dengue cases have been reported in the area.
People who do not cooperate with police and environmental protection or health department officials enforcing dengue prevention measures face fines of between NT$3,000 and NT$15,000, in accorance with the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法).
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry