The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday confirmed five new measles cases associated with a cluster outbreak in Taipei, saying that 1,981 people who had come into direct contact with the patients would be monitored for symptoms until Sept. 6.
The cases are likely associated with a man in his 30s living in northern Taiwan, who was infected with measles in Vietnam, returned home on July 29, transmitted the disease to his flatmate, and was confirmed to have measles on Wednesday, the centers said.
One of the five cases confirmed yesterday is a man in his 30s, who was on the same flight with the index case on July 29, and was in Vietnam from Aug. 5 to Wednesday, so he might have been infected by the index case or by other people in Vietnam, it added.
Photo: CNA
The other four patients are nurses who work at Cathay General Hospital’s emergency room who had come into contact with the index case, the CDC said.
The nurses started experiencing symptoms between Friday last week and Thursday this week, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said, adding that one of them was vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) in 2013 and two were vaccinated last year, but the other has not been vaccinated.
The hospital on Friday held an emergency response meeting to discuss prevention measures and asked the medical practitioners who have had direct contact with the index case to have their measles antibody levels measured and receive an MMR vaccine if no antibodies are found, hospital deputy superintendent Lee Chia-long (李嘉龍) said.
The hospital also asked medical practitioners with higher antibody levels to help screen patients with a fever, control the personnel who are allowed to enter the emergency room, take disinfection measures and put up posters to warn people about clustered measles cases, he said.
One hundred and nineteen measles cases have been confirmed this year — 72 domestic cases, among whom 51 had come into contact with confirmed cases, and 47 imported — the CDC said.
Measles is a highly contagious disease that can spread through coughing and sneezing, and it is most contagious in the four days before and after the onset of rashes, the centers said.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS