. Earth Science News .
Taiwan seeks seven passengers on Asian swine flu flight

by Staff Writers
Taipei (AFP) May 2, 2009
Taiwan was Saturday trying to track down seven people who travelled on to the island after sharing a flight with the Mexican man who became Asia's first confirmed case of swine flu.

The seven were among 26 people who had flown from Shanghai to Hong Kong on the same flight as the man, and who later flew on to Taiwan on six different flights, Health Minister Yeh Chin-chuan told reporters.

Health authorities previously put the number at 25.

"We hope the seven people can call 1922 as soon as possible," Yeh said, referring to a hotline set up by the government as part of efforts to tackle the H1N1 virus.

The minister warned that if the seven do not cooperate, and continue to move freely "they could be punished severely."

Nineteen of the 26 people had either called the hotline or been found by health officials, Taiwan's Centres for Disease Control said.

Yeh said as things stood none of the 19 had shown any symptoms of the disease.

The minister renewed his call for calm and tried to reassure the seven people his officials were looking for.

"There's no reason be afraid of the H1N1 virus, because it is curable. The disease may be easy to contract but its fatality rate is low.

"Sooner or later, we may have our first confirmed cases since there is no way to restrict travel. What is really important is to stop any community infection outbreak," Yeh said.

Health authorities have so far cleared 22 people who had reported flu-like symptoms. The island has no confirmed cases of H1N1.

Taipei on Saturday issued a travel advisory urging its citizens to protect themselves against infection while visiting Hong Kong or South Korea, which have both reported confirmed cases of swine flu.

Hong Kong Friday put a hotel and 300 guests and staff under a seven-day quarantine after the infected Mexican man checked in there after arriving from Shanghai.

Thirteen Taiwanese, including a family of seven, were among the quarantined guests, Yeh said.

South Korea confirmed its first case Saturday, after a 51-year-old woman who had returned from Mexico last weekend tested positive for the swine flu virus.

Taiwan held an exercise at an airport Saturday as part of the island's stepped-up measures against the spread of H1N1.

At Sungshan airport, in Taipei City, staff and health workers practised procedures for checking arrivals and, where necessary, admitting them to a designated hospital.

"The scenario is that should any arrival return from Mexico with fever he or she would be checked and then rushed to the Hoping Hospital for quarantine," said Shih Wen-yi, spokesman for Taiwan's Centres for Disease Control (CDC).

In 2003 an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), forced Hoping Hospital to shut down and quarantine 200 patients and 900 staff.

Since then it has been designated as one of the island's chief treatment places in any epidemic, and is equipped with 119 quarantine wards.

Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Epidemic in Mexico 'not so aggressive' says govt
Mexico City (AFP) May 1, 2009
Millions of Mexicans on Friday holed up at home for a five-day national shutdown aimed at containing a flu epidemic that their government said was "not so aggressive" as initially feared.







  • Mangroves Save Lives In Storms
  • Implementing Sustainable Technology To Monitor The Integrity Of Bridges
  • How Day-Planner For Astronauts Helps Firefighters
  • At least 30 missing in Peru mudslide

  • Severity, Length Of Past Megadroughts Dwarf Recent Drought In West Africa
  • Aerosols May Drive A Significant Portion Of Arctic Warming
  • Decline In Greenhouse Gas Emissions Would Reduce Sea-Level Rise
  • US environment agency deems CO2 a health risk

  • Satellites Show How Earth Moved During Italy Quake
  • Satnav Reflection Technology For Remote Sensing Of The Earth
  • Satellites Show Arctic Literally On Thin Ice
  • NASA Goddard Orders Second Instrument For GPM Mission

  • Analysis: China ups Kazakh energy holdings
  • Analysis: Turkish-Armenian thaw and energy
  • UC Davis Receives Renewable Energy Programs Grant
  • Analysis: Oil and Gas Pipeline Watch

  • Taiwan seeks seven passengers on Asian swine flu flight
  • DNA Barcoding Of Mosquito Species Deployed In Bid To End Elephantiasis
  • Doubts over thermal scanners in swine flu fight
  • Swine flu hits Asia in global march

  • When Industrious Ants Go Too Far
  • Did Dinosaurs Survive The End Cretaceous Extinctions
  • Rally against shark fin trade opens in Singapore
  • Feather Color Is More Than Skin Deep

  • Landfill Cover Soil Methane Oxidation Underestimated
  • Brazil: poverty, desperation at Amazon 'El dorado'
  • Pollution in Chinese cities 'extremely severe': minister
  • Sofia mayor in 'garbage war' with Bulgaria PM

  • Tiny Genetic Differences Shed Light On The Big Picture Of Human History
  • Is There A Seat Of Wisdom In The Brain
  • British woman does 314-foot ocean dive
  • Teeth Of Columbus' Crew Flesh Out Tale Of New World Discovery

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement