Premier Jiang Yi-huah at today's Executive Yuan Council meeting called for the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), Environmental Protection Administration and Ministry of Education (MOE) to collaborate with local governments to strengthen dengue fever and enterovirus preventative measures and education.
While dengue fever annually peaks in Taiwan in October and November, indigenous cases have already been discovered in Taipei City, and the nation's total number of imported cases for 2013 has already reached a 10-year high as the disease is currently epidemic in southeast Asia. Furthermore, the environment after typhoons pass is typically very suitable for breeding the mosquitoes that carry the disease, and Taiwan has already been visited by multiple such storms this summer.
As a result, the peak preventative period for dengue fever has already begun, stated the premier. Officials in the central and southern regions should move especially quickly to stop the disease, particularly in the south since Pingtung County has continued to heat up, he added.
Jiang also asked the MOHW and MOE to join hands to prevent enterovirus from spreading as the new school year begins. He instructed the MOHW to continue monitoring the situation while stepping up preventative health education and the MOE to work with local governments to strengthen the sanitation management of schools, daycares and community babysitter support and supervision networks' sanitation management, teaching children good hygiene habits to prevent them from contracting this virus.