Authorities in eastern China covered up an outbreak of cholera for 12 days out of fears that publicizing the often fatal disease would shock the local population, state press said yesterday.
According to the Anhui Province health department’s Web site, 38 people have contracted cholera since Aug. 16 and the outbreak was under preliminary control with the numbers of cases diminishing.
Five patients remain hospitalized, it said.
Cholera causes serious diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to dehydration, and can be fatal if not treated quickly. It normally breaks out in impoverished regions with poor sanitation.
Although health authorities have not reported any deaths, Internet chatrooms were abuzz with rumors that several people have died from the disease.
At the same time state media criticized the government for covering up the epidemic and refusing to alert the local population.
“On August 16, the Anhui centre for disease control had confirmed the outbreak of cholera, but it was not until August 28 that it was publicized,” the Beijing News said in an editorial. “The government covered up the outbreak for 12 days.”
The paper quoted Wang Jianjun (王建軍), the vice director of the Anhui Center for Disease Control as saying that local officials were powerless to publicize disease outbreaks and had to wait for approval from more senior officials.
“Besides, if every outbreak of disease is publicized every time, this will easily lead the public to become paralyzed in their thinking,” the report cited him as saying without elaboration.
The cholera outbreak has been traced to soybean milk shop in Mengcheng city.
Poor sanitation and a lax food safety regime have repeatedly led to health scares in China.
Last week, 87 children were hospitalized after eating tainted yogurt at a kindergarten in Gansu Province, state media reported on Saturday.
A cooking oil company in central China also admitted last week it had waited five months before notifying the public that one of its products had been found to contain excessive carcinogens.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
RSS