This week is crucial for controlling the dengue fever outbreak in New Taipei City, where a cluster has increased to 49 confirmed cases, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Tuesday last week reported the first cluster of dengue cases in the nation this year in New Taipei City.
The New Taipei City Department of Health yesterday said six new cases have been confirmed in the city, including three in Jhonghe District (中和) and three in Sindian District (新店).
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Department of Health
One of the six new cases has been hospitalized for treatment, while the other five have recovered, it said.
Hospitals reported the new cases, and the average time passed for the department to receive the reports after the people sought treatment was less than two days, the city’s Department of Health Director Chen Ran-chou (陳潤秋) said, adding that this indicates that public awareness and doctors’ vigilance have increased.
Attending the city’s Hakka Yimin Festival at the Civil Plaza yesterday, Hou was asked to comment on the dengue outbreak in the city.
“So far, all the cases are in Jhonghe and Sindian districts, and we are conducting prevention and control measures in the region — focusing on 55 boroughs, and following the ‘inspect, empty [containers], clean, and scrub’ guidelines to eliminate [mosquito] breeding sources,” he said.
The city government has also designated 17 restricted areas as hotspots of dengue, he said, urging people to avoid visiting them to avoid dengue transmission.
Since the first case was confirmed on Monday last week, the city government has run wide-scale cleanup and disinfection operations, he said, adding that the outbreak has not expanded to other districts.
“The upcoming week is crucial for dengue vector control, so I urge residents to cooperate in ‘inspecting, emptying, cleaning, and scrubbing’ the environment to eliminate vector breeding sources,” Hou said, adding that he hopes the outbreak can be effectively controlled this week.
Asked whether a dengue control “advance command post” would be set up in New Taipei City yesterday, Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) said hiking trails near Sanjie Temple (三介廟) and Tianshan Park (天山公園) have been closed for a month to reduce transmission risk.
The CDC has a “mobile task force” visiting the districts every day to communicate with frontline disease prevention personnel, so they should be able to control the outbreak, he said.
GENSLER SURVEY: ‘Economic infrastructure is not enough. A city needs to inspire pride, offer moments of joy and foster a sense of belonging,’ the company said Taipei was named the city with the “highest staying power” in the world by US-based design and architecture firm Gensler. The Taiwanese capital earned the top spot among 65 cities across six continents with 64 percent of Taipei respondents in a survey of 33,000 people saying they wanted to stay in the city. Rounding out the top five were Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (61 percent), Singapore (59 percent), Sydney (58 percent) and Berlin (51 percent). Sixth to 10th place went to Monterrey, Mexico; Munich, Germany; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Vancouver; and Seoul. Cities in the US were ranked separately, with Minneapolis first at
The Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association has cautioned Japanese travelers to be vigilant against pickpockets at several popular tourist spots in Taiwan, including Taipei’s night markets, the Yongkang Street area, Zhongshan MRT Station, and Jiufen (九份) in New Taipei City. The advisory, titled “Recent Development of Concerns,” was posted on the association’s Web site under its safety and emergency report section. It urges travelers to keep backpacks fully zipped and carried in front, with valuables placed at the bottom of the bag. Visitors are advised to be especially mindful of their belongings when taking photos or speaking on the phone, avoid storing wallets and
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
RSS