WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2003
Taiwan to set up $1.4bn emergency SARS fund
AP
TAIPEI: Taiwan is establishing a 50 billion new Taiwan dollar ($1.4 billion) emergency fund to tackle the island's outbreak of SARS. The money will be used to help SARS patients and those suspected of contracting the flu-like illness.
It will also provide aid to Taiwan's tourism and manufacturing sectors, which have been hard hit by the disease, the Cabinet said in a statement.
Premier Yu Shyi-kun on Tuesday met with the heads of local governments to rally their support in the fight against the disease.
``We must win the battle against SARS,'' Yu said.
The plan comes as the World Health Organisation warned that SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, was spreading rapidly in Taiwan and China.
``We are beginning to see in Taiwan there have been multiple introductions ... They are on an increasing curve as in China,'' WHO chief of communicable diseases David Heymann told reporters in Thailand on Monday.
Taiwan has reported one death and 65 cases of SARS. Twenty-three of those cases were at Taipei's Hoping Hospital, where 930 employees have been quarantined for two weeks. But many of the 200 patients have been moved out.
At least 2,000 others, including many who had visited the public hospital before it was sealed off last Thursday, have been quarantined at home.
The disease has dealt a blow to Taiwan's economy because many of the island's key electronics companies have plants in China, and have had to scale back travel to the mainland.
Business could be hampered further as Taiwan began on Monday a 10-day mandatory quarantine of all passengers arriving from SARS stricken areas including China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada. The measure has led to massive cancellation of flights from Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Lee Long-teng, the Health Department's deputy chief, said late Monday that 300 doctors and 1,000 nurses will be recruited and trained to care for SARS patients. The legislature is expected to approve the emergency fund this week, officials said.
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