Thirty-six deaths were reported in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan from Saturday to 3pm yesterday, which the authorities said were probably caused by hypothermia or cardiovascular disease.
The temperature fell to 4°C in most parts of northern Taiwan yesterday.
Twenty-one deaths were reported in Taipei, 10 in New Taipei City and five in Taoyuan.
It snowed in the hills and mountainous areas of New Taipei City’s Pinglin (坪林), Shiding (石碇) Wulai (烏來), Sindian (新店) and Sijhih (汐止) districts and at Chinese Culture University in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林), which is only about 400m above sea level, from Saturday evening to yesterday morning, as the worst cold front in 44 years hit the nation. Taipei authorities said 13 deaths were suspected to have been caused by low temperatures on Saturday, with eight yesterday, three of who reportedly had no pulse on arrival at hospital emergency rooms.
They said that all of them were found indoors.
New Taipei City Police Department said it found a 56-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), dead on the street yesterday morning, while most of the other victims were found in their residences.
Five people — one man and four women — were reported dead in Taoyuan, aged between 46 and 84. Paramedics said people should call 119 for help immediately if they feel any discomfort and should not drive themselves to hospital.
They also suggested that people, especially senior citizens, should keep warm and be prepared.
The number of critical cases in the emergency room at Taipei Medical University Hospital (TMUH) was twice as many as the daily average, with most cases reported as sudden cardiac death, stroke and myocardial infarction. Kao Wei-feng (高偉峰), chief of the emergency services at TMUH, said a US survey showed that sudden cardiac death tends to happen more frequently in low temperatures compared with higher temperatures.
In temperatures of less than 5oC, respiratory diseases, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, are 10 percent more serious for every 1oC drop in temperature, Kao cited research as saying. Kao also urged people using portable heaters and disposable heat pads to be careful to prevent being burned. People should also maintain proper ventilation indoors to avoid a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, he said.
The Tri-Service General Hospital emergency room did not see any more cardiovascular disease patients than usual yesterday.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
RSS