Taiwan will monitor online rumours alleging that pneumonic plague has spread from Russia to parts of China and may strengthen quarantine measures, Premier Cho Jung-tai said on Tuesday, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.
Cho said health authorities had implemented border quarantine measures and would continue monitoring online information from China for suspicious developments.
The government was “highly, highly concerned” about the reports, Cho said, adding that authorities would assess whether additional precautions were necessary.
The remarks followed questions from Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Wang Ting-yu, who asked whether Taiwan was prepared to prevent the disease from spreading to the island given its frequent exchanges with mainland China.
Authorities seek verification
Taiwanese health authorities have contacted the World Health Organization to verify whether the October 2 death of a 28-year-old laboratory worker at Russia’s Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute was caused by pneumonic plague, Health Minister Shih Chung-liang said.
“However, so far, no tests of pathogens or other samples have returned positive results, so it cannot be concluded at this point that plague was definitely the culprit,” Shih said.
China’s state-run Global Times reported on Monday that Hulunbuir, a city in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region bordering Russia’s Far East, had issued a plague prevention notice following reports of a suspected fatal case.
The WHO said last week it was seeking further information from Russia about the laboratory worker’s death and reports of a second employee’s death.
Russia subsequently denied reports of a second case of illness in the Siberian region of Irkutsk.
The reports have prompted renewed attention to possible cross-border risks, although the cause of the laboratory worker’s death has not been confirmed.
