Hospitals have reported a surge in the number of emergency medical cases related to the recent cold, wet weather, which has seen the temperature drop to below 10oC in many parts of the nation over the past week.
Central Weather Bureau officials forecast that temperatures were likely to remain low until the end of this week.
At least five people died as a result of the cold weather before the Lunar New Year holiday, hospital sources said.
Following the holiday, a number of patients suffering from hypothermia were sent to Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei, one of whom died, a hospital emergency room staffer said.
Kao Wei-feng (
To cope with the sudden increase in the number of emergency cases, National Taiwan University Hospital has stepped up its management of the wards at its stroke center and cardiology department, a spokesman for the hospital said.
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei County said that, during the past week, the hospital's emergency room was inundated with patients suffering from heart attacks, strokes, asthma, diarrhea or respiratory diseases.
Chang Gung said the number of patients visiting its emergency room grew by between 10 percent and 20 percent during this period.
In related news, shelters in Taipei City and Taipei County have reported about 300 visits from homeless people, while a local social welfare foundation said that it had opened nine shelters around the nation for homeless people.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
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