The Taipei City Government has established a SARS Emergency Response Task Force and closed the Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital in order to combat the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.
Yesterday, the cross-departmental task force, headed by Taipei Deputy Mayor Ou Chin-der (歐晉德), ordered the Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital to close its operations immediately. It also ordered all of its 930 staff members and 240 patients to stay in the hospital in order to prevent the further spread of the SARS virus.
Ou said the move was made in accordance with the Cabinet's decision yesterday to close the hospital and that the city government had sought assistance from the Department of Health and Ministry of National Defense for the necessary medical aid and logistic support to handle the quarantine.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
"All of the 930 staff members of the Hoping Hospital will be summoned back to the hospital for a collective two-week quarantine, and the order went into effect at 1pm yesterday. The 240 patients staying at the hospital are not allowed to check out and will receive collective treatment.
"Meanwhile, all the family members of all the hospital's medical staff are subject to stay at home for two weeks," Ou announced yesterday at the press conference.
Meanwhile, a special medical team comprising medical experts from the Academia Sinica, DOH and the city's Bureau of Health will move into the Hoping Hospital to provide emergency medical assistance.
A medical team will control the movement of people into and out of the hospital.
Asked by reporters if the 240 patients would still be tended to if all the medical staff members go through quarantine, Ou said yesterday all the hospital's staff members would remain on duty at the hospital.
"They will perform duties as usual, they are just required to stay at the hospital for two weeks," Ou said.
Taipei City Spokesperson Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) yesterday said such a mass-scale quarantine imposed on the hospital's medical staff, patients and family members is probably unprecedented in Taiwan's medical history.
He urged all the hospital's staff, patients and family members to cooperate the quarantine order.
"The city's social workers will provide daily necessities to those who are put in quarantine, while the police force will be employed to ensure everyone who is quarantined complies with the orders. Violators of the quarantine order will be fined between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000," Wu said yesterday.
Director of the city's Bureau of Health Chiou Shu-ti (邱淑媞) yesterday announced that the hospital will designate a SARS emergency unit to accept all the SARS-related cases.
The public can use the hot line 02-2388-9617 to inform the special medical team should any individual develops symptoms related to SARS.
Chiou said that though the mass-scale quarantine may inconvenience the Hoping Hospital's staff and patients, it is important as it is the only way to protect the public.
"Please note that not all of these members quarantined are infected with SARS. We're doing so because of a 10-day window period for anyone to develop SARS-related symptoms.
"Only 26 of them are infected, and have been dispersed in different hospitals around the city. Ninety-five percent of them are healthy," Chiou said.
Wu Kang-wen (
The Department of Health also ordered the Taipei City Department of Health to take over the nerve center of the hospital and take charge of all the hospital's medical-related operations until the SARS threat subsides, DOH Deputy Director-General Lee Lung-teng (李龍騰) said.
The drastic move was taken on the heels of news that seven staff members of the hospital reportedly came down with possible SARS symptoms Tuesday, marking the first multiple appearance of possible cases since the disease first appeared in the country early last month.
The number of suspected SARS cases stemming from the hospital increased to 26 yesterday after 10 more cases were reported overnight.
Of the 26, seven are probable SARS cases, three are suspected cases, while the remaining 16 cases have yet to be determined.
The 10 newly-reported SARS cases include three doctors, one patient, four family members of the patient and two nurses.
Lee said that beginning yesterday, all inpatients already admitted to the hospital will be closely monitored by having their temperature taken and chests examined daily.
None of the hospital's inpatients will be allowed to check out. Those who checked out over the past week will receive follow-up medical checks and be ordered to stay at home for a 10-day quarantine period, Lee said.
Meanwhile, a student surnamed Lin from the Cardinal Tien Junior College of Nursing who is an intern nurse at the hospital, was transferred to the Keelung General Hospital yesterday for treatment after she was diagnosed as a probable SARS case -- one of the seven new "probable" cases that stem from the hospital.
The other six new "probables" have either been transferred to National Taiwan University Hospital or remain in Municipal Hoping Hospital under medical observation and in quarantine.
Because Lin came down with SARS symptoms, the Cardinal Tien Junior College of Nursing announced a suspension of all classes for 10 days beginning yesterday, making it the first school in the country to close down temporarily because of SARS.
Sixty to 70 people with whom Lin has had contact over the past few days have also been asked to observe a 10-day quarantine period at home.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and