Taiwan reported its sixth A(H1N1) death yesterday, a 10-year-old boy.
The boy was from Taitung County’s Dongshih Township (東勢), said Hsiao Chun-ying (蕭春櫻), acting chief of the county’s health bureau.
He was sent with flu symptoms to the Taichung Veterans General Hospital on Aug. 26 and was diagnosed with swine flu yesterday morning. He developed complications from pneumonia and died later yesterday, Hsiao said.
“We are trying to figure out how he was infected.” he said.
Nine more people were hospitalized yesterday with A(H1N1), bringing the total number to 104, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said.
CDC Director-General Steve Kuo (郭旭崧) said it was difficult to predict when the flu outbreak would reach its peak.
The seasonal flu usually peaks in January, but the outbreak of H1N1 could advance or delay the peak of the flu season, he said.
In preparation for this winter’s flu season, the Department of Health will from next month offer free inoculations against seasonal flu to groups considered at high risk of infection, such as children, the elderly and healthcare workers.
Inoculation against H1N1 will begin in mid-November, with pregnant women, healthcare workers, schoolchildren and teens as the priority recipients, Kuo said.
Kuo said there was no indication that it would be unsafe to receive both flu shots.
In related news, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said it would soon submit a proposal to the Executive Yuan about the possibilities of enlisting the help of TV stations to allow students to continue schooling if swine flu forces schools to shut down completely.
NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said three broadcasting laws — the Cable Television Act (有線電視法), the Broadcasting and Television Act (廣播電視法) and the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) — authorize the government to use TV channels to broadcast crucial information about emergency situations during designated hours.
The government does not have to pay the stations for the service.
The government has used this right during the SARS outbreak and during search and rescue efforts following Typhoon Morakot.
The health department requires schools to close for five days if two or more students in the same class come down with H1N1 within three days of each other.
“But if the disease spreads faster and more schools have to close, then students may need to have class via TV or radio,” Chen said.
The Ministry of Education has suggested the classes could be offered on Taiwan Indigenous TV (原住民電視台), Hakka TV (客家電視台), the Chinese Television System (華視) and the Public Television Service (公視).
The NCC proposed the plan should be expanded to include more terrestrial and cable channels.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
RSS