Southern Taiwan is in a state of alert after SARS claimed the life of a Kaohsiung dentist, whose source of infection remains unclear, city officials said yesterday.
As of yesterday afternoon, a cumulative total of 944 SARS cases had been reported with 20 SARS-related deaths. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 12 new probable cases were reported yesterday, bringing the total number of probable cases to 184 and the number of suspected cases to 239.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The Department of Health (DOH) said figuring out the source of infection of probable SARS cases, including that of the dentist, is one of their priorities.
The dentist, DOH officials said, knew of no direct contact with any suspected SARS cases.
Kaohsiung City Government officials said yesterday they were working with neighboring jurisdictions to combat the disease.
"With regard to the dentist's death, we will not rule out any possible clue in order to block the spread of SARS," said Han Ming-jung (
Health officials are gathering information on the dentist's patients to determine whether any of them had visited areas hard-hit by SARS.
Meanwhile, the situation at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital has been getting worse. Three physicians who took care of a suspected SARS case surnamed Lin -- who visited Taipei's Jen Chi Hospital, which was shut down on April 29 due to the spread of the disease -- are in isolation.
"They do have a fever. So far, however, we have not observed any signs of respiratory disease," said Chen Chao-long (
Four relatives of a deceased woman, who was hospitalized in a regular ward of Chang Gung late last month, began to show signs of SARS on Saturday.
Health officials suspect that the four people were infected in the ward, which was shared with Lin, who concealed her visit to Jen Chi Hospital in the middle of last month.
Chang Gung staff mistakenly had Lin stay in a regular ward.
Chen said, however, that the real source of infection remains uncertain because two of the four people were from Taipei, where the spread of SARS seemed to be far more serious.
According to health officials, there are eight suspected SARS cases connected with Lin. At Chang Gung, 32 medical professionals are in isolation.
In Kinmen County, the first suspected SARS case was reported yesterday. County officials said that a 42-year-old woman surnamed Chen developed a fever on Tuesday, four days after she returned to Kinmen from Taipei.
Officials said the patient spent one day taking care of her sick father at National Taiwan University Hospital on April 23. Local health officials held an emergency meeting yesterday morning with the armed forces on how to prevent the spread of SARS in Kinmen.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
At least 35 people were killed and dozens more injured when a man plowed his car into pedestrians exercising around a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai on Monday night. Footage showing bodies lying on the pavement appeared on social media in the hours after the crash, but had vanished by early Tuesday morning, and local police reported only “injuries.” It took officials nearly 24 hours to reveal that dozens had died — in one of the country’s deadliest incidents in years. China heavily monitors social media platforms, where it is common for words and topics deemed
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
RSS