Qingming Festival Will Put Epidemic Prevention to Test|台商清明返鄉祭祖 下一波防疫大考驗

Coronavirus disease 2019 is highly infectious, making it hard to determine when the outbreak will slow down. At present, there are 5,000 people entering the country every day from China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Many Taiwan businesspersons are also expected to return for the Qingming Festival, which will be the next big test in epidemic prevention.


People with coronavirus disease 2019 can infect others even if they don't show any symptoms. This makes it hard to determine when the outbreak will abate. At present, there are 5,000 people entering the country every day from China, Hong Kong, and Macau. The number is expected to rise before and after the Qingming Festival, when Taiwan businesspersons return home to offer sacrifices to their ancestors. This will be the next big test in epidemic prevention.

China is the first hot zone, and Southeast Asia needs to be careful. Actually, community transmission has already occurred in some Southeast Asian countries, even though it is difficult to ascertain whether their detection methods are complete. Right now, we have the New Southbound Policy, so those who come in from Southeast Asia need to be careful.

The government has enacted a policy where anyone entering Taiwan from China, Hong Kong, or Macau must undergo quarantine or isolation at home. However, this does not include those who came into contact with confirmed cases. Taiwan has 1,100 beds inside negative isolation wards. Doctors worry that there may be 100,000 people needing to undergo quarantine if numerous Taiwan businesspersons return home from China for the Qingming Festival. Taiwan was in the midst of an influenza epidemic when news of COVID-19 first emerged. Last week, there were 14 deaths caused by influenza. Doctors remind the public that the novel coronavirus and seasonal influenza are both respiratory diseases, so there may be mixed infections.

Mixed respiratory virus infections are common, and simultaneous influenza and novel coronavirus infection have occurred. It's not true that if you get one infection, you can't get another. So, when we make diagnoses, we need to consider many aspects.

Doctors add that influenza and COVID-19 have similar aspects. Influenza symptoms include throat aches and runny noses. The best preventative measure is to get an influenza vaccine to boost immunity.



武漢肺炎傳染力驚人，感染者即使沒有症狀，也具有傳染力，究竟疫情何時能趨緩仍是未知，目前國內每天從中港澳入境人數約有5000人，預計清明節前後，隨著台商返鄉祭祖將是下一波大考驗。

台大醫院小兒部主任 黃立民表示：「中國大陸是第一個熱區，東南亞也是要小心，東南亞其實有些國家，已經社區流行了，只是他們的偵測，是不是有完全掌握到，這很難講，而且我們現在又走南向，所以東南亞進來的人也是要小心。」

目前國內的防疫策略只要是從中港澳返台者，都得接受居家隔離或居家檢疫措施，而且這還不包括確診個案的接觸者在內，目前全台負壓隔離病床大約只有1100床，醫師擔心若到時候台商清明返鄉居家檢疫恐超過10萬人，恐怕難以負荷，而就在武漢肺炎爆發之際，國內流感仍持續流行中，光是上週就有14例死亡，醫師就提醒，新型冠狀病毒與季節性流感都同屬呼吸道傳染病，因此可能存在混合感染現象。

台大醫院小兒部主任 黃立民表示：「呼吸道病毒混合感染，是常常有的事情，流感跟新冠同時感染，也發生過了，所以並沒有什麼感染一個病毒，就不能感染另外一個病毒，這樣的情況，所以我們在做診斷的時候，其實是要多方面的去診斷。」

醫師表示，流感和武漢肺炎症狀有點像，除發燒、流感主要還是以喉嚨痛、流鼻水為主，民眾最好的預防方式還是盡快接種流感疫苗來增強保護力。