HEALTHCARE
Pilgrims sickened
At least 70 worshipers out of thousands participating in a pilgrimage of the sea goddess Matsu in Pingtung County were taken to hospitals on Saturday, possibly due to food poisoning, local health authorities said. The county’s Public Health Bureau said it received a report at 4:42pm that many pilgrims taking part in the event, lasting from Friday through yesterday in southern Taiwan, had fallen ill. As of 8:30pm, 29 people remained hospitalized at Fooyin University Hospital and Antai Tian-Sheng Memorial Hospital, while the rest were discharged after being treated, the bureau said. It added that it has started on-site investigations to see if there have been contraventions of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法). A Matsu devotee surnamed Chen (陳) said he started vomiting and had diarrhea after eating food at a local temple in the afternoon. He said he later went to a hospital and learned that many others had developed similar symptoms.
HEALTHCARE
FDA warns on eyedrops
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has advised the public not to buy eye drops or artificial tears from unknown sources in other countries or online. FDA Deputy Director-General Cheng Hwei-fang (陳惠芳) said the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) in February warned “consumers and healthcare practitioners not to purchase and to immediately stop using EzriCare Artificial Tears or Delsam Pharma’s Artificial Tears due to potential bacterial contamination,” during the manufacturing and packing process in India. Using contaminated artificial tears increases the risk of eye infections that could result in blindness or death, the USFDA said. The USFDA issued recalls between late October and the middle of last month for 28 types of artificial tears and eye drops by seven brands — CVS Health, Leader, Rugby, Rite Aid, Target, Velocity Pharma LLC and Walmart — none of which have been authorized for import, sale or use in Taiwan, Chen said. He urged the public not to buy the products in other countries or online. The US authorities are planning to recall all unexpired products from the brands made from last month until September 2025, he said.
ENTERTAINMENT
Big Kaohsiung show planned
The Kaohsiung City Government has announced that its annual New Year’s Eve celebration is to feature a fireworks show lasting four minutes, one of the city’s biggest-ever displays. The New Year’s Eve party is to take place at Dream Mall starting from 6:30pm on Dec. 31, with the stepped-up firework display beginning after the New Year countdown, it said, adding that the show is to last 60 seconds longer than last year and more than 7,000 fireworks are to be set off. This would also be the first time the city combines its Christmas and New Year celebrations in an attempt to create a joyful end-of-the-year atmosphere, it said. Christmas decorations, including a 20m-tall Christmas tree and a more than 5m-tall reindeer, are to be put up in the city’s Central Park. An event is also to be held there on Dec. 22 and 23, featuring more than 250 stalls and performances, it said. Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said Kaohsiung is set to have an eventful December, with the “Open Your Dream” balloon parade being held on Saturday, and the “Open Run” road running race and the performance of the “Orange Devils” — Kyoto Tachibana Senior High School’s marching band — scheduled for Sunday.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its