It is estimated that 59 individuals have had close contact with the boy. Among the 59, eight -- including family members and relatives -- have shown no symptoms. Of the 39 passengers who were on the same flight with the boy and transferred to other countries, Taiwan has notified related countries through the International Health Regulations (IHR), an international instrument that is legally binding on all World Health Organization (WHO) member states. Taiwan has so far recorded only one indigenous swine flu case and the remaining are all imported patients. Most of the confirmed patients have since recovered.
CASE 15 : June 3 - A 25 year old student from New York, USA via Hong Kong. Departing May 28, and arrive in Taiwan May 29. The student wore a mask all through his flights and barely left his home, Shih said, adding that his close relatives had received preventive medicine and had been told to closely monitor their health. As he became ill more than 48 hours after leaving the flight, the authorities were not looking for his fellow passengers.
CASE 16: June 3 - A 24-year-old businessman living in New York who arrived in Taiwan via Hong Kong on May 31. He felt he had a fever on the flight, but did not seek medical care until Tuesday because the fever didn't subside.
Looking back at Taiwan's virus infections so far, CDC said that all 16 cases were relatively light. An overwhelming majority of the cases were students or other citizens returning from overseas, in particular the United States. Only one infection happened inside Taiwan, but that was a friend who had had dinner with one of the imported cases shortly after her return.
Because schools in the U.S. were entering the summer holiday period, more students returning to Taiwan could turn out be infected by the virus. Until now, about one out of every 60 suspected cases was confirmed as an (A)H1N1 case.
Taiwan's first ten cases all left hospital after about a week of quarantine each to return home.
Department of Health Minister Yeh Chin-chuan told, Taiwan would not lower its (A)H1N1 status level for the time being. Even though the death rate from the virus stood at only one in a thousand patients, there were still 1,000 to 2,000 people being infected on a daily basis.
YELLOW ALERT TO MALAYSIA
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) issued yellow travel alerts Saturday for Ukraine, Malaysia, French Polynesia and Trinidad & Tobago over new confirmed cases of swine flu in those countries. The ministry said in a statement that in issuing the alert, it is advising citizens traveling to those countries to take health precautions.
SOURCE: Taiwan News
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