The Center for Disease Control reported yesterday Taiwan's third case hit of atypical pneumonia, a potentially fatal disease, cases of which have now been found in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore and Canada.
The center said the World Health Organization reported yesterday increases in atypical pneumonia cases in Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada.
Chen Tsai-ching (陳再晉), the center's director-general, said in a press conference that the four cases in Canada were from the same family. "Three of them have traveled to Hong Kong and two of them have died," said Chen.
Chen added that no fatal cases have been reported in Hong Kong and Singapore.
According to the center, Taiwan's third case of atypical pneumonia was a 64-year-old female. An Ilan hospital reported the case to the center yesterday afternoon, Chen said.
"The patient, having been traveling in Guangdong Province between Feb. 23 and March 1, returned to Taiwan via Hong Kong. She began to have fever on March 7 and was hospitalized on March 13," Chen said.
The center reported the first two atypical pneumonia cases, a China-based Taiwanese businessman and his wife, on Friday.
According to Chen, the businessman suffers diffuse pneumonia and adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). "His wife and the third case's symptoms are relatively less severe," Chen said.
According to the center, the 54-year-old businessman had been traveling in Guangdong Province between Feb. 8 and 21. After returning to Taiwan on Feb. 23, he began to have fever on Feb. 25.
The businessman and his wife have been admitted to National Taiwan University Hospital.
The hospital said the couple has been quarantined. "They stay in a ward that has an independent air conditioning system. The air in the ward does not circulate to other areas of the hospital," a hospital press release said.
The hospital has also asked staff tending the couple to take strict precautionary measures such as wearing masks and caps and washing hands frequently.
According to the hospital, the businessman's situation has been deteriorating after he was hospitalized on March 8.
Although the center reported the couple as atypical pneumonia cases, the hospital described yesterday the couple's disease as "pneumonia plus ARDS."
The hospital said it could not verify whether the couple's disease was related to the atypical pneumonia cases in China, Vietnam and Hong Kong before results from the couple's saliva and blood tests were available.
Chen said various bacteria and viruses could cause atypical pneumonia.
"It is likely that a mutated virus has caused this tide of severe pneumonia," Chen said.
Chen excluded the possibility that the couple's illness is linked to bird flu and also said it was unlikely bacteria caused the disease.
"If bacteria caused the illness, antibiotics would be effective. However, the antibiotics doctors administered on the husband have not been effective in improving his situation," Chen said.
He also urged people to cancel unnecessary trips to countries where atypical pneumonia cases have been reported.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would