Mr Ma said that people should not panic over the situation, and he also refused to call a national security meeting in response to the growing threat of a nationwide outbreak of the swine flu.
Yesterday on China Post and today on Taipei Times, we can read:
[…]
Less than 10 percent of people are fully aware of how swine flu spreads
[…]
Scary, isn’t it?
One can always blame Taiwanese people (“not my fault”… does it ring any bells?)
But if the Department of Health (by the way, there is no ministry here… just a department…!!!???) did a better job by explaining the risks, situation and prevention, the percentage of people with appropriate knowledge could be totally different.
Obviously, the Media is full of other concerns and no campaign has been launched by the department of health, as far as I know.
Yesterday, The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) confirmed reports of 11 hospitalized A(H1N1) cases, the most recorded in one day and likely an indicator of a widening epidemic.
So, it’s what we have now:
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Mr Ma refusing to call a national security meeting
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Taiwanese not been aware about the swine flu and the way it’s spreading
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Yesterday, the most recorded number of H1N1 cases hospitalized
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No practical move from the department of health as far as I know
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The situation in the South and Center of Taiwan, following the last typhoon
Will Taiwan face a new “Morakot” but this time because the flu?
Is the administration learning from the past?
Let’s hope I am wrong and too pessimistic.
What do you think?
F. VARGA 
[…] Go here to read the rest: H1N1 And The Taiwanese: A New Disaster Coming? […]
Swine flu is really no worse than normal flu.
Even in a full-on out break, there will only be a few deaths of elderly and very young if their symptoms are not managed. If you’re healthy person you have nothing to worry about at all.
In Britain, where we had 50,000+ new cases a week in early July, and expect another big wave in the winter, a third of doctors and nurses will not take tamiflu because they think the side effects of the drug are worst than the flu!
Ben, thanks you for your comment.
And yes, you are right, we can read a lot of stuff about the impact of the swine flu.
But just one question.
Do you know that even the WHO said that 40% of the affected people are in their young and healthy age?
So quite far away from your point…
Think about that…
But sure, if we compare with the malaria…
Still, there is something we don’t know yet.
So my point was: what about we prevent first? Better than to be sorry after…
But just a thought.
What the people think (whoever… including doctors) we can’t say it’s based on scientific conclusions…
Conclusion: let’s be careful
🙂
Oh… Too tired… So many syntax errors in my previous comment. Sorry… I should be more careful.
China has canceled or postponed several events meant to highlight its rapidly improving relations with Taiwan, apparently to show anger over the Dalai Lama’s visit to the island, Taiwan’s ruling party said.
The Tibetan spiritual leader’s visit, aimed at comforting victims of last month’s deadly typhoon, has posed the most serious challenge to relations between the island and the mainland since President Ma Ying-jeou took office 15 months ago on a platform of ending 60 years of hostility.
Taiwan’s ruling party said it sent an emissary to China last week to try to explain why Ma approved the visit.
”Beijing’s attitude toward this is important to us, so we tried to explain to them about Taiwan’s thinking,” Nationalist Party Deputy Secretary General Chang Rong-kung said.
He did not say how China responded.
China has canceled or postponed at least two planned visits to Taiwan, and nixed ceremonies meant to mark the expansion of direct air service, said Nationalist Party spokeswoman Chen Shu-rong. China had already said its delegation would not join Saturday’s opening ceremony for the Deaf Olympics in Taipei.
An official with China Southern Airlines, however, said no ceremony had been planned for the direct flights, saying budgets are tight and such flights have become routine.
China had warned that the Dalai Lama’s visit was ”bound to have a negative influence on the relations between the mainland and Taiwan” – a far harsher stance than its earlier comment that placed the blame for the visit on Taiwan’s pro-independence opposition rather than Ma.
The opposition invited the Dalai Lama to visit and comfort victims of the typhoon, which killed 670 people. Ma later approved the visit but said he would not meet the spiritual leader.
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