Two more cases of swine flu were confirmed in Taiwan yesterday. A 22-year-old Taiwanese university student who arrived in Taipei from New York tested positive for the A(H1N1) strain, the Central Epidemics Command Center said last night. At press time there were no details on the third case.
“The woman was stopped by customs officials at the airport because a machine showed her to have a fever of 38.6°C,” Centers for Disease Control (CDC) spokesman Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) told a press conference.
She is being treated at Taoyuan General Hospital.
Taiwan reported its first case of swine flu on Wednesday after an Australian doctor arriving from the US via Hong Kong reported feeling unwell to airport authorities.
He was taken directly from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Taoyuan General Hospital.
The woman, a student at a New York university, left JFK International Airport aboard Cathay Pacific flight 831 on Tuesday, transited in Hong Kong on Wednesday and boarded Cathay Pacific flight 468 for Taiwan, Shih said.
He said the woman’s itinerary was the same as the Australian doctor’s.
The CDC is still looking for 46 passengers who sat three rows in front of and behind the woman on the Taipei flight so that they can be tested.
Shih added that 59 of the 60 passengers who sat three rows in front of and behind the Australian doctor had been contacted by the CDC — except for one Taiwanese who traveled to China.
Shih said the woman told officials that she lived in a campus dormitory with a roommate. CDC officials have asked her to contact the roommate to check that she has not been infected.
Meanwhile, Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) returned to Taipei yesterday morning. He had been attending the annual World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting in Geneva.
“It’s hard to avoid sporadic transmission of H1N1 cases because of cross-border transportation ... but we won’t have widespread community-level transmission like Japan before the end of June,” Yeh said at the Executive Yuan shortly after returning to Taipei.
Asked to elaborate on this, Yeh corrected his remarks and said that the goal between now and the end of next month was to contain the spread of the virus at ports of call and in the community at large.
Yeh said the A(H1N1) flu would not be a major problem in July, August and September because the virus would become less active as summer advances.
“The weather in Taiwan now is already like summer ... Just wash your hands often, maintain good hygiene, go outside and enjoy the sunshine. The sunshine will shine the virus to death. Don’t wear face masks. Only sick people need face masks,” he said.
But Yeh said there was a chance of an outbreak in October, November and December as the weather grows cooler.
Yeh said the government would have an adequate stockpile to treat those who contract the flu by that time because it would have purchased 900,000 doses of relenza and 60,000 tonnes of shikimic acid — enough material to produce doses of Tamiflu for 2 million to 3 million people, increasing the stockpile of the drug from 10 percent to 13 percent of the population.
BRIEFING
Later yesterday, Yeh briefed the Executive Yuan on the activities of the Taiwanese delegation at the WHA.
After 12 failed attempts, Taiwan was invited to attend this year’s WHA as an observer under the designation “Chinese Taipei.”
The government says the invitation is the result of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) policy of engaging China, but the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has slammed the government for accepting the invitation.
The DPP says Taiwan’s sovereignty was compromised after a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the WHO and Beijing stipulated that communication between the WHO and Taiwan could only take place with Beijing’s consent.
Yeh told the Cabinet the most important development was the US, Japan and the EU speaking about Taiwan at the WHA’s plenary session, with the US addressing Taiwan as “Taiwan” and Japan and the EU using the title “Chinese Taipei.”
ATTENDANCE
“Everyone is curious whether we will attend the WHA meeting next year,” Yeh said, adding that “there is almost a 100 percent possibility that we will because almost all countries invited Taiwan to return next year, including mainland China.”
At a separate setting, DPP Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) said that as of yesterday morning, the WHO’s Web site did not indicate that Taiwan had reported its first case of swine flu.
Huang said the latest entry of the WHO Web site’s “Disease Outbreak News” contained no record of Taiwan’s first case. She also expressed concern that any Taiwanese correspondence to the WHO would appear under “China.”
The Department of Health should clearly explain which section of the WHO Web site would provide information on cases in Taiwan, she said.
“In the future, will China have to report to the WHO on the circumstances of the outbreak in Taiwan before that information can appear on the WHO Web site?” she asked.
WEB UPDATE
CDC Director Steve Kuo (郭旭崧) said that Taiwan had informed the WHO about the case and that the time difference might have delayed updating of the Web site.
He acknowledged, however, that in the past information relating to Taiwan had been listed under “Taiwan, China.” He said that many issues, such as Taiwan’s designation, could only be tackled one at a time.
“It is true that in the past all information was listed under so-called ‘Taiwan, China.’ But this time, at the WHA, I politely pointed out that there was a problem,” Kuo said.
“Ever since our involvement in the International Health Regulations in January, we have gained a lot, but there are still many problems waiting to be solved,” he said.
WORST CASE
Later yesterday, Yeh said the worst-case scenario would see Taiwan’s cases listed under “Taiwan, China.” But he added that this did not mean that there was no possibility of changing things.
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