Taiwan closely monitoring China pneumonic plague rumors: Premier

Taipei, Oct. 13 (CNA) Taiwan's government will continue monitoring online rumors that a pneumonic plague outbreak has spread from Russia into China and may strengthen existing quarantine measures, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said Tuesday.

During a legislative meeting, ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said rumors had circulated that the disease had spread across several Chinese provinces.

He asked Cho whether the government had prepared to prevent the disease from spreading to Taiwan, given frequent exchanges between Taiwan and China, and how concerned the government was about the alleged outbreak.

Cho said the Ministry of Health and Welfare had implemented border quarantine measures after briefing the Executive Yuan on the issue two weeks ago.

The government is "highly, highly concerned," Cho said, adding that relevant authorities would continue monitoring online information from China about the disease to identify any "suspicious" developments and determine whether quarantine measures should be strengthened accordingly.

Asked by Wang about allegations that online posts concerning pneumonic plague cases in Sichuan Province had been removed, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said China had always been "opaque" about disease outbreaks.

He added that the MAC would remain in close contact with the health ministry to keep Taiwanese businesspeople working in China informed of the latest developments.

Health Minister Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said his ministry had contacted the World Health Organization to verify whether the Oct. 2 death of a 28-year-old laboratory worker at Russia's Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute was due to pneumonic plague.

"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.