- TAIPEI (Reuters) - A Taipei
city hospital reported a fresh outbreak of SARS on Friday, ending a three-day
streak of no new infections and dashing hopes Taiwan was clear of the epidemic.
-
- The Taipei Municipal Yang Ming Hospital, which serves
the capital's wealthy northern suburb, said two health workers have tested
positive for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and four others are suspected
to have the flu-like virus.
-
- The hospital has put 53 people under quarantine, temporarily
closed its emergency ward and is undergoing disinfection -- mirroring the
precautions taken after a series of hospital outbreaks that have caused
most of the island's cases.
-
- "After discovering a patient with fever, the hospital
has swiftly enacted very good hospital controls," Su Ih-jen, director
of Taiwan's Center for Disease Control, told a news conference.
-
- "We hope this wave of infections will be fully under
control within 10 days," he said.
-
- Su said Yang Ming's two health workers were likely infected
by a 90-year-old woman patient who died on May 30.
-
- Prior to the new outbreak, Taiwan's probable cases of
SARS stood at 676, the third highest in the world after China and Hong
Kong. Eight-one people on the island had died from the disease.
-
- TRAVEL ADVISORY
-
- But with no fresh infections reported for three straight
days -- a sharp improvement from a peak of 65 new cases a day on May 22
-- Taiwan had hoped it could be removed from the World Health Organization's
travel advisory list by June 15.
-
- "If the six new reported cases do not lead us to
exceed 60 (active cases), then we meet all the other requirements and we
can still apply to the WHO for removal from the travel advisory,"
Premier Yu Shyi-kun told reporters on Friday.
-
- Taiwan officials say the WHO would consider removing
its travel warning if the island had fewer than five new infections for
three straight days and show a declining trend, have fewer than 60 active
SARS patients, with no untraceable cases.
-
- Taiwan must also be seen not to be exporting the virus.
-
- More than 90 percent of the island's SARS cases are hospital
infections, which had skyrocketed in May and hammered the economy by curbing
consumer spending as scared residents stayed at home.
-
- Stock markets had also been hit and business activity
slowed after Taiwan banned travelers from SARS-affected areas on April
27, including top trading partner China.
-
- Taiwan said on Friday it would ease restrictions on business
travelers by exempting them from a 10-day quarantine upon guarantees from
their local employer or business partner.
-
- However, other travelers such as tourists must still
be isolated for 10 days after arrival, the Taiwan cabinet's anti-SARS committee
said in a statement.
-
- Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited
without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable
for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon.
|
