The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that preliminary tests have excluded flu, avian flu or adenovirus infections as possible causes of a pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China, that was first reported last week.
After a rumor spread online on Tuesday last week about a SARS-like infection in Wuhan, the CDC on Tuesday announced that while information from the Chinese government suggests that the disease does not resemble SARS, enhanced preventive measures would take effect immediately.
CDC officials are boarding all flights from Wuhan to Taiwan — 12 flights per week — to check whether passengers or crew have symptoms indicating a possible case of the disease, the agency said.
Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control
CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that the Chinese government has excluded flu, avian flu and adenovirus as possible causes, but it had not ruled out other novel viruses, such as a coronavirus.
“Coronaviruses can cause mild symptoms, similar to a common cold, but they can also cause serious symptoms, such as SARS or MERS [Middle East respiratory syndrome],” Chuang said, adding that it is also important to find the source of the infection.
Chinese government information showed that there was no apparent evidence of human-to-human transmission, but the source of infection, the transmission route and whether there are communal outbreaks would be key points for the CDC to follow up on, and the factors will affect the centers’ risk evaluation, he said.
Since Tuesday last week, seven flights from Wuhan to Taiwan with a combined 633 passengers and crew had been inspected by airport quarantine officials, with six passengers showing mild symptoms, Chuang said.
One of the cases was confirmed as the flu, one a flu-like illness, one a common cold and another had a reduced fever, while local heath departments are following up on the two other cases, he said.
The CDC has issued a notice to healthcare professionals, urging them to be alert when treating people for pneumonia and to check whether they have traveled to Wuhan recently, he said, adding that they should report suspected cases and send a specimen for tests.
Forty-four people had been diagnosed with the illness as of Friday, with 11 in a critical condition, Chinese government data showed.
A total of 121 people who have had direct contact with patients are being observed, the data showed.
The CDC said that people planning to visit Wuhan and nearby areas should wash their hands frequently with soap, wear a surgical mask, avoid livestock markets, hospitals and crowded areas, and report to the airport quarantine station if they have a fever or flu-like symptoms when returning to Taiwan.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS