Police escort helps rush woman to hospital after snakebite in Keelung City

composite image showing snakebite and snake

November 20, 2021November 20, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment Keelung City, snake-bite

Police in Keelung City provided a patrol car to escort a woman to hospital after she was bitten by a venomous snake Thursday, November 18. Ms Zhan was tending her flower garden at home in Qidu District, Thursday evening, when she was bitten on the ankle by a Taiwanese pit viper, also known as the Taiwan habu (Protobothrops mucrosquamatus). To save time, rather than call an ambulance, Zhan’s husband drove to Fuxing Police Station, and rushed in to inform the

physician in China gives himself a colonoscopy

Health and Safety

November 19, 2021November 19, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment medicine

A physician in Guangzhou Province, China, gave himself a gastroscopy and a colonoscopy, then removed polyps and hemorrhoids from his own rectum to show patients that getting a gastrointestinal endoscopy is “no big deal.” Zhang Weimin, Director of the Department of Spleen and Stomach Diseases at the Guangzhou Southern Medical University of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine performed the procedures without anesthesia. “I talk to patients about the necessity of gastrointestinal endoscopy every day, but still encounter many patients

Aviation Health and Safety

November 16, 2021November 16, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment Aviation industry, COVID-19

Subjecting pilots to frequent nasal swabs to test for COVID-19 has led to severe nosebleeds while pilots are on duty, and it may affect flight safety, according to the Civil Aviation Administration and pilot unions. According to current epidemic prevention regulations, flight crew must be subject to three PCR tests within 14 days of entry, and it is stipulated that these must be in the form of nasopharyngeal swabs. However, many flight crew members have reported that this method causes

Health and Safety

November 15, 2021November 15, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment mountain rescue, river-tracing, Taichung City

A guide leading a group on a river tracing expedition was left dangling for 6 hours after having a problem with his equipment while scaling a waterfall cliff in a mountain district of Taichung City, yesterday, Sunday, November 14. The guide was leading a group of 15 people in the Qizhongtian Stream in Heping District when he became stuck due to “equipment failure” while 25 meters above ground level. The Taichung City Fire Bureau received a request for help at

Health and Safety

November 15, 2021November 15, 2021 Phillip Charlier 3 Comments COVID-19, vaccine

Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center announced today that there were nine cases of COVID-19 detected among arrivals to the country, all of whom were fully vaccinated. There were no domestic cases reported for the 10th day in a row, and no deaths reported among past or present cases. The nine imported cases were detected among arrivals between October 30 and November 13 from the United States, Indonesia, Germany, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. The cases consisted of five males and

Health and Safety

November 9, 2021November 9, 2021 Phillip Charlier 1 Comment Central Mountain Range, missing persons, search and rescue

A Czech national resident of Taiwan is gaining a reputation for tracking down lost hikers after finding the remains of a missing man in the mountains of Nantou County, yesterday, Monday, November 8. Petr Novotny, who runs the outdoor sports company Beast Runners came to media attention when he joined the search for a missing off-road motorcyclist in the mountains of Hsinchu County in September this year. In the same month Novotny joined the search for a 60-year-old man named

Centers for Disease Control Central Epidemic Command Center press briefing

Health and Safety

November 4, 2021November 4, 2021 Phillip Charlier 1 Comment COVID-19, Ministry of Health and Welfare, vaccine

Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced that a total of 9 fatalities were added to the vaccine adverse events reporting system yesterday, including a one day old baby whose mother had been vaccinated during pregnancy. CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang, speaking at a daily press briefing November 3, said that the one-day old newborn had died on October 7 due to abnormal blood clotting. Chuang said that the mother had received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine on July

Health and Safety

November 3, 2021November 3, 2021 Phillip Charlier 1 Comment COVID-19, vaccine

Taiwan’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program(VICP) approved it’s highest relief payment to date for a case of vaccine-induced thrombosis, October 21, according to minutes of the meeting released yesterday. The VICP reviewed 13 applications for compensation for adverse events following the AstraZeneca vaccine at the October 21 meeting. Among the cases, one involving a 30-year-old man from Taoyuan City who developed thrombosis in combination with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), was determined to be related to the vaccine. The committee made their decision

Deputy Chief Medical Officer CECC Philip Lo

Health and Safety

November 2, 2021November 2, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment COVID-19, vaccine

The Central Epidemic Command Center announced four new cases of COVID-19 among people entering Taiwan from abroad, including three “breakthrough infections.” CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who serves as Deputy Chief of the CECC’s medical response team said that there were no new domestically transmitted cases, nor deaths among confirmed cases, today, Tuesday, November 2. However, there were four new cases among arrivals from abroad, including three males and one female aged from their 40s to 60s. Two cases

Health and Safety

November 1, 2021November 1, 2021 Phillip Charlier 0 Comment Asian giant hornet, hornet attack, Kaohsiung City

Twenty-four people were stung, and 2 required hospitalization after a swarm of hornets attacked a group of 39 tourists in Kaohsiung City’s rural Namaxia District yesterday, October 31. The group of Kaohsiung City residents was visiting the Tangaanua Shrine as part of a tour of the Bunun indigenous people’s traditional culture when a child was stung by a Asian giant hornet at around 10:30 am. The frantic actions of the child attempting to wave the hornet away is believed to

Central Epidemic Command Center Deputy Director Chen

Health and Safety

October 26, 2021October 26, 2021 Phillip Charlier 1 Comment COVID-19, vaccine

Taiwan’s CDC announced a total of 8 new COVID-19 infections in the country October 25, of which six cases were among arrivals from abroad, all of whom were vaccinated. The six cases consisted of two men and four women who had arrived from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Indonesia, Deputy Leader of the Medical Response Team of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), Philip Lo (羅一鈞), said. A British male in his 50s who arrived from the UK,