SOURCE UNKNOWN: The man who died had not been to a foreign country, which means his case can be deemed a community-acquired infection, Chen Shih-chung said

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 17, 2020
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced two new confirmed cases of

COVID-19 infection in Taiwan, one of whom died on Saturday.

“One of the cases was a 61-year-old man who had chronic hepatitis B and diabetes, but had not visited other countries or had close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19,” said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), head of the center, told a news conference in Taipei.

The man developed a cough on Jan. 27, sought treatment for difficulty breathing on Feb. 3 and was diagnosed with pneumonia and hospitalized in a negative pressure intensive care unit, Chen said, adding that he died of pneumonia and sepsis.

“With the consent of his family members, specimens were collected for testing before his body was cremated according to regulations on notifiable communicable diseases,” he said.   [FULL  STORY]

rthk.hk
Date: 2020-02-15

Taiwanese authorities have fined three Hong Kong residents HK$18,000 each for violating quarantine regulations aimed at combating the spread of the coronavirus.

The Central News Agency reported on Saturday that the three individuals, two men and a woman, were moved to a secure quarantine facility and will be released on February 23. Their 14-day quarantine period is back-dated to their arrival on the island on February 8.

Government officials in Taipei say the three Hongkongers gave false addresses and phone numbers to health officials, who were then unable to reach them during the two-week home quarantine period.

They were found in a rented flat in the Ximending shopping district of Taipei on Friday.
[FULL  STORY]

ZeroHedge
Date: 02/15/2020
By: Tyler Durden

Doctors working on the front lines of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak have told the Taiwan Times that it's possible to become reinfected by the virus, leading to death from sudden heart failure in some cases.

"It’s highly possible to get infected a second time. A few people recovered from the first time by their own immune system, but the meds they use are damaging their heart tissue, and when they get it the second time, the antibody doesn’t help but makes it worse, and they die a sudden death from heart failure," reads a message forwarded to Taiwan News from a relative of one of the doctors living in the United Kingdom.

The source also said the virus has “outsmarted all of us,” as it can hide symptoms for up to 24 days. This assertion has been made independently elsewhere, with Chinese pulmonologist Zhong Nanshan (鍾南山) saying the average incubation period is three days, but it can take as little as one day and up to 24 days to develop symptoms.

Also, the source said that false negative tests for the virus are fairly common. “It can fool the test kit – there were cases that they found, the CT scan shows both lungs are fully infected but the test came back negative four times. The fifth test came back positive.” -Taiwan Times

Notably, one of the ways coronaviruses cripple the immune system is via an HIV-like attachment to white blood cells, which triggers a 'cytokine storm' – a term popularized during the avian H5N1 influenza outbreak – in which an uncontrolled release of inflammatory 'cytokines' target various organs, often leading to failure and in many cases death.

The cytokine storm is best exemplified by severe lung infections, in which local inflammation spills over into the systemic circulation, producing systemic sepsis, as defined by persistent hypotension, hyper- or hypothermia, leukocytosis or leukopenia, and often thrombocytopenia.

In addition to lung infections, the cytokine storm is a consequence of severe infections in the gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract, central nervous system, skin, joint spaces, and other sites. (Tisoncik, et. al, Into the Eye of the Cytokine Storm)(2012)

According to the 2012 study, "Cytokine storms are associated with a wide variety of infectious and noninfectious diseases and have even been the unfortunate consequence of attempts at therapeutic intervention."

How do coronaviruses enter the body?

With SARS (sudden acute respiratory syndrome), another coronavirus, researchers discovered that one of the ways the disease attaches itself is through an enzyme known as ACE2, a 'functional receptor' produced in several organs (oral and nasal mucosa, nasopharynx, lung, stomach, small intestine, colon, skin, lymph nodes, thymus, bone marrow, spleen, liver, kidney, and brain).

ACE2 is also "abundantly present in humans in the epithelia of the lung and small intestine, which might provide possible routes of entry for the SARS-CoV," while it was also observed "in arterial and venous endothelial cells and arterial smooth muscle cells" – which would include the heart.
[FULL  STORY]

Six Taiwanese suspects planned to return to China after the outbreak

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/15
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Police arrested six members of an alleged fraud ring who had returned from China to sit out the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, reports said Saturday (Feb. 15).

The six suspects left China before the Lunar New Year holiday as they expected the coronavirus to spread and make their operations more difficult at least for a time, CNA reported.

However, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) had kept a close watch on them and obtained arrest warrants on Feb. 11. The six were arrested in New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Tainan in the possession of evidence including how-to notes, diaries, lists of instructions, smartphones, laptops and Chinese bank statements.

The group reportedly lured Taiwanese with a free trip to the southern Chinese province of Guangxi, where they put them under pressure to invest in projects promising high returns as soon as the following month, CNA reported. The investment usually amounted to NT$300,000 (US$9,990).
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/15/2020
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, Feb. 15 (CNA) Two earthquakes of magnitude 5.5 and magnitude 5.1 shook eastern Taiwan at 7 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. Saturday, and were felt around the country, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Both earthquakes struck on the coast of Hualien. The first one was centered about 19.2 kilometers southwest of Hualien County Hall and struck at a depth of 10.5 km, the bureau's Seismology Center said.

The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a quake, was highest in the northern half of Hualien County, measuring 4 on Taiwan's 10-level intensity scale, the CWB said.
[FULL  STORY]

‘VERY CAREFUL’: All Taiwanese on board the ‘Diamond Princess’ cruise ship would be evacuated on a chartered China Airlines flight, the minister of health and welfare said

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 16, 2020
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The government is negotiating with Japanese officials to arrange the evacuation of Taiwanese

passengers quarantined on a cruise ship off the coast of Yokohama, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.

The Diamond Princess, with about 3,500 passengers and crew on board, was placed under a 14-day quarantine on Feb. 4, when it was scheduled to dock in Yokohama. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection on the ship have been rapidly increasing since then.

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare yesterday said that 67 new cases of COVID-19 infection have been confirmed, bringing the total number of infected passengers and crew to 285.

While the US government is making arrangements to evacuate Americans from the ship, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said that it has also been negotiating with Japanese officials to conduct a similar operation.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 14 February, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

US Senator Ted Cruz has introduced the Taiwan Symbols of Sovereignty (SOS) Act which would allow diplomats from Taiwan to display the national flag and wear their uniforms during official visits to the US.

Cruz said that introduction of the act is a reversal of former US President Barack Obama’s 2015 Guidelines on the Relationship with Taiwan. The guidelines prohibited the display of Taiwan’s national flag at any US government agencies, at the request of the Chinese government.    [FULL  STORY]

VOA
Date: February 14, 2020
By: Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI – Although two flybys in as many days this month by Chinese military planes alarmed Taiwan’s defense ministry, analysts say China was playing more to a wider audience, including the United States and a domestic population worried about an economically destabilizing virus outbreak.

Taiwan’s air force scrambled F-16 jets as Chinese fighters and bombers flew around half of Taiwan Sunday morning  after passing through the Luzon Strait and turning north up the island’s east coast, the National Defense Ministry in Taipei said. More aircraft flew past the next day, and one crossed into Taiwan's airspace until Taiwanese F-16s warned them away, the ministry said.

China has used fighters and bombers before to pester Taiwan, the ministry said. This month, Chinese leadership probably wanted to show Beijing-leery Western allies that it’s still strong despite the virus, said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in New Taipei City.   [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese businessman reminds public to be compassionate with those who have fallen ill

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/14
By:  Central News Agency

CoroTaiwan's tenth confirmed case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), who was released from quarantine on Thursday, issued a statement that day thanking his medical team, while saying the experience of becoming ill and seeing his family treated as "public enemies" taught him the importance of having compassion.

According to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), the patient is a Taiwanese businessman who became ill after returning from the Chinese city of Wuhan on Jan. 12. Although the man initially tested negative for the virus, he subsequently infected his wife, and was later confirmed as Taiwan's tenth coronavirus case on Jan. 31.

At a CECC press conference on Thursday, however, Wang Pi-Sheng (王必勝), the director of the Hospital and Social Welfare Organizations Administration Commission, said the man is now in good health, and has tested negative for the virus three times in recent days.

A panel of physicians approved the man's release from medical quarantine on Thursday, and he will soon be discharged from the hospital, Wang said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/14/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Feb. 14 (CNA) Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Friday issued a basic Level 1 alert for travel to Japan after Tokyo announced several coronavirus (COVID-19) cases whose origins were unknown.

Under the Level 1 "Watch" alert in the government's three-tier travel advisory system, people are advised to respect prevention measures put in place at the destination, according to the CECC.

It said the travel advisory was issued because there have been reports in Japan over the past few days of COVID-19 infection cases with unknown sources, suggesting a potential community spread of the virus.
[FULL  STORY]