The Kaohsiung City Government has stepped up efforts to contain the spread of dengue fever after 28 new cases were reported in parts of the city last week, a local health official said on Monday.
“Twenty-eight indigenous dengue fever cases were reported in the city last week alone, bringing the total to 186 so far this year,” said Ho Chi-kung (何啟�?director of the city’s Department of Health.
With an annual national sports event being held in the city and a warm-up activity for the 2009 World Games opening yesterday, Ho said the city government’s dengue fever team had increased its monitoring and stepped up preventive operations, including epidemiological surveys, environmental cleanups and emergency disinfections.
Ho said the dengue fever situation this year was far more complicated than before.
In the past, outbreaks in the city were usually caused by a single strain of the virus, whereas this year, he said, two variants of the virus originating from four countries — Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia — were detected.
Making epidemic control even more challenging is the fact that the four strains penetrated different districts of the city, Ho said.
Dengue fever cases in Nanzih District (楠梓) were mainly caused by a Type 1 virus originating in Thailand, Ho said, with 14 boroughs affected.
Aside from Jenchang Borough (仁昌), which was still being closely monitored, the epidemic had been brought under control in all other boroughs, with no new cases reported for more than six weeks.
A case reported in Huafeng Borough (華豐), Kushan District (鼓山), was caused by a Type II strain originating in the Philippines, Ho said, adding that no new case of this strain had been reported for more than four weeks.
Meanwhile, the Type II Cambodian strain has mainly affected Chienchen District (前鎮) and Kaohsiung County’s Fengshan City (鳳山). The cases in Lingya District (苓雅), meanwhile, were mainly caused by the Type I Vietnamese strain, Ho said.
Ho said the Cambodian and Vietnamese strains had likely spread to neighboring areas in Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County in August, adding that although the outbreak was contained, the virus had spread to Chienchen and Lingya districts, causing the infection to peak last week.
With intensive preventive efforts, Ho said the epidemic would gradually subside in the coming week or two.
The potentially deadly dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease, which is manifested by a sudden onset of severe headaches, muscle and joint pains, fever and rashes.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
RSS