The Department of Health yesterday confirmed that some people had been infected with SARS at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and urged the hospital to take emergency measures to prevent further infections.
"We believe that there is only limited local transmission at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital," said Center for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Chen Tzay-jinn (陳再晉) at a press conference in Taipei. "The situation can be managed professionally."
Emergency measures include preparing isolation areas for SARS patients, the health department said.
A special team of four physicians and three senior nurses dispatched by the CDC yesterday began work at Chang Gung.
Chen said that such emergency measures had been carried out successfully at other hospitals, such as Chung Hsing Municipal Hospital in Taipei.
There are now 107 staff members at the hospital in isolation, including 15 with SARS-like symptoms. Five of the 15 have been identified as probable SARS cases.
Two of the staff members were in critical condition yesterday, including a 28-year-old doctor who was in a coma.
On Tuesday, the 10th, 11th and 12th floors of one of the hospital's buildings were disinfected. The emergency room was closed for disinfection early yesterday morning and reopened later in the day.
Yesterday, all suspected SARS patients were relocated to specially prepared rooms on the 13th floor of the building.
Hospital staff yesterday continued to deny that the infections inside the hospital were out of control.
"There's no cross infection inside the hospital," hospital spokesman Chen Shuen-sheng (陳順勝) said.
"The limited infection can be attributed to close contact with a probable SARS patient who concealed her medical history," Chen said, referring to a woman who had stayed at Jen Chi Hospital in Taipei, which was closed after a number of SARS cases were discovered there.
The woman, who has not been named, also infected a woman who was sharing a room with her and the other woman's relatives.
Chen Chao-long (
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, located on the border between Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County, is one of the largest in southern Taiwan. Both local authorities have been working together to manage the crisis.
"We will work closely with neighboring counties to trace possible sources [of SARS infections] as soon as possible," Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday.
Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (
The crisis at Chang Gung has also put a strain on nearby Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, where the number of people visiting the emergency room rose yesterday to about 5,000 from the usual average of about 3,000.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said