A total of 71 new cases of influenza with complications have been recorded, with four more fatalities, since Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said.
As of Friday, health officials had confirmed 366 flu cases with complications, 18 of which were fatal, it said.
The latest victims were a five-year-old boy in Taoyuan County, a 62-year-old man in Chiayi County, an 85-year-old woman in New Taipei City and a 74-year-old man in Miaoli County, all of who died after contracting Type B or Type AH3 influenza.
None of the individuals who died had been vaccinated, the CDC said.
The CDC said that even though the number of flu cases was half of that recorded in the same period a year ago, there was still a 5 percent mortality rate.
The Department of Health (DOH) advised those infected with the flu virus to stay at home and avoid public places, especially those at high risk of developing flu-related complications, such as infants, toddlers, the elderly and patients with chronic diseases.
In the event that individuals contract such symptoms as fast or labored breathing, bluish or gray skin or lips, chest pain, low blood pressure, thick or blood-streaked sputum and fever lasting for 48 hours or more, they should see a doctor or seek immediate treatment at a hospital, the department said.
A total of 1,727 special influenza clinics have been set up nationwide to fight the virus.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
A woman who allegedly spiked the food and drinks of an Australian man with rat poison, leaving him in intensive care, has been charged with attempted murder, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. The woman, identified by her surname Yang (楊), is accused of repeatedly poisoning Alex Shorey over the course of several months last year to prevent the Australian man from leaving Taiwan, prosecutors said in a statement. Shorey was evacuated back to Australia on May 3 last year after being admitted to intensive care in Taiwan. According to prosecutors, Yang put bromadiolone, a rodenticide that prevents blood from
China is likely to focus on its economy over the next four years and not set a timetable for attempting to annex Taiwan, a researcher at Beijing’s Tsinghua University wrote in an article published in Foreign Affairs magazine on Friday. In the article titled “Why China isn’t scared of Trump: US-Chinese tensions may rise, but his isolationism will help Beijing,” Chinese international studies researcher Yan Xuetong (閻學通) wrote that the US and China are unlikely to go to war over Taiwan in the next four years under US president-elect Donald Trump. While economic and military tensions between the US and China would
RSS