The ongoing influenza epidemic is expected to end late this month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
A total of about 108,000 outpatient and emergency visits due to flu-like illness were reported across Taiwan from March 9 to Saturday, indicating a downward trend, but still an ongoing epidemic, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) told a regular news briefing.
Photo: Taipei Times
The most common respiratory pathogen in the community is the flu virus, with the majority being influenza A (H1N1), Lee said.
From March 9 to Saturday, 15 deaths and 45 cases with severe flu-related complications were recorded, Lee said.
Since the start of the flu epidemic on Oct. 1 last year, 1,152 severe cases and 254 deaths have been reported, Lee added.
CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said that the flu epidemic remains at a "critical point" and "still requires continued monitoring."
Expanded eligibility for government-funded antiviral drugs for influenza — covering those with symptoms who have family members, colleagues or classmates with similar symptoms — has been extended until March 31, the CDC said.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
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