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.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
A man in Tainan has been cleared on charges of public insult after giving the middle finger during a road rage incident, as judges deemed the gesture was made “briefly to express negative feelings.” In last week’s ruling at the High Court’s Tainan branch, judges acquitted a driver, surnamed Cheng (程), for an incident along Tainan’s Nanmen Road in September 2023, when Cheng had spotted a place to park his car in an adjacent lane. Cheng slowed down his vehicle to go into reverse, to back into the parking spot, but the car behind followed too closely, as its driver thought Cheng
DEFENSE: The purpose of the exercises is to identify strategies for the government to control risks during tensions, prevent war and bolster national resilience A tabletop exercise series has begun simulating possible scenarios if the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched a war against Taiwan in the guise of a military exercise. The exercise series is jointly organized by National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations, Taiwan Center for Security Studies and Asia-Pacific Policy Research Association. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康), former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton and Taiwan Center for Security Studies director Liu Fu-kuo (劉復國) attended the event in Taipei yesterday. Scenarios that would be simulated include changing political circumstances in the US during US President Donald Trump’s tenure
RSS