The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday that its policy toward A(H1N1) influenza would change from trying to prevent it from entering the country to reducing its impact, following the WHO decision to upgrade its pandemic alert to level six.
“We will have domestic infections sooner or later. It is not necessary anymore for us to try to keep it out. It is now more important for us to reduce the impact,” Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) told a press conference at the CECC after a meeting in response to the WHO’s move.
Yeh said he was satisfied with what Taiwanese epidemiologists have done so far.
“We need more manpower to work on vaccine production so we need to stop certain anti-epidemic work,” Yeh said.
The minister promised that the vaccine would be ready by the autumn.
“Probably sometime in September,” he said.
Meanwhile, the CECC also announced the 37th confirmed domestic swine flu case yesterday. CECC spokesman Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said that the patient was a 23-year-old female college student from a group who recently returned from Thailand.
Shih said that there was no need for people to cancel or postpone trips to foreign countries, but he urged tour guides and travel agencies not to plan outings to crowded public locations, such as nightclubs during trips.
Shih also reminded tour guides to help travelers should they start to show flu-like symptoms.
Failure to do so could lead to a fine of between NT$10,000 and NT$150,000.
“Once a tour guide discovers a group member is feeling unwell, the guide should immediately help them find a doctor. Tour guides will be fined if their negligence helps the spread of the virus,” Shih said.
“We found that all the college students who were infected in Thailand had been to dinner shows or local nightclubs. These places are quite risky, especially as there are more and more confirmed cases in Thailand,” Shih said.
In response to Yeh’s prediction that there would be a large-scale domestic infection in the future, Shih said there was nothing to fear.
“This is something we already knew and are already prepared for, so there is no need to panic,” Shih said.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we