Test results have cleared three suspected cases of H7N9 avian influenza infection, as 10 new suspected cases were reported, the Central Epidemic Command Center said yesterday.
The announcement came after the center held a third meeting about H7N9, at which a development and production plan for a H7N9 vaccine was discussed.
Of the 10 suspected cases of H7N9 reported this week, nine were reported by hospitals and one was detected at an airport, the command center said.
“Three of the 10 were ruled not to be H7N9 infections, with two of them confirmed to be H1N1 virus infections. The rest are pending results,” Centers for Disease Control official Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.
Two experts sent to China on Saturday last week have confirmed that there is no sign of sustained human-to-human transmission of the H7N9 bird flu so far, Chuang said.
Deputy Department of Health Minister Lin Tzou-yien (林奏延) said production of an H7N9 vaccine could be undertaken in one of two ways: either by acquiring the wild-type H7N9 virus strain from China for vaccine development or by receiving a developed vaccine strain from the WHO or the US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“With an acquired virus strain [from China] we would be able to make a vaccine seed strain using reverse genetics, which takes about four to five weeks. The safety test takes another four to six weeks before a vaccine production strain can be provided to vaccine manufacturers. Further clinical studies would be required before market authorization could be obtained,” Lin said.
“If we can receive a vaccine production strain from the WHO or the US, things will be easier, because we can directly provide the strain to the manufacturers,” Lin said.
When asked about the possibility of a H7N9 vaccine being produced through cross-strait cooperation, as President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has said he would like to see, Lin said speed was the overriding factor.
“It would be nice to cooperate on other kinds of vaccines, but with H7N9, it seems that it would be faster to have our local companies undertake the production,” Lin said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to