As the Zika virus continues to spread worldwide, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) detected 74 travelers with symptoms during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday and all of them tested negative for the virus.Taiwan CDC continues to monitor the ongoing Zika outbreaks. In addition, pregnant women are advised to postpone their trips to areas where Zika virus is active, travelers are advised to avoid mosquito bites, andpeople returning from Zika-affected areas are advised to use condoms when having sex for at least 28 days to prevent Zika transmission. 

During the 9-day Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, Taiwan CDC maintained the preparedness and response efforts. During February 6 and 14, a total of 74 travelers were detected with a fever at the international airports. 27 arrived from Thailand, 14 arrived from Vietnam, 8 arrived from Malaysia, and the rest arrived from the other countries in Southeast Asia. All of them tested negative for the Zika virus. As of now, besides one imported case of Zika virus infection, no other cases of Zika virus infection have been identified in Taiwan. 

Thus far, at least 36 countries, areas and/or territories worldwide, including Latin America, the Caribbean region and Asia (Thailand and Maldives), have reported local outbreaks of Zika virus infection. Taiwan CDC has issued a travel notice of Level 2: Alert for Zika virus for the aforementioned 36 countries and territories. Although sporadic cases have been reported in 5 countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Gabon in Africa, no direct evidence has shown local transmission has occurred in any of the 5 countries. Taiwan CDC has issued a travel notice of Level 1: Watch for Zika virus for these 5 countries. 

In light of the continuing threat posed by the Zika virus, the Wolrd Health Organization (WHO) together with 33 government agencies, health bodies and academic journals signed a joint declaration to ensure information that is valuable to combat the Zika outbreak is made available to the international community. Taiwan CDC pointed out that even though Taiwan is unable to sign the declaration, we deeply applaud and support the commitment. In the future, Taiwan CDC will continue to share data, staying in line with the international community. Additionally, in accordance with the Open Government Data policy implemented by the Executive Yuan, Taiwan CDC will make relevant data about the Zika virus infection available on the Open Data Platform once it is confirmed. 

Taiwan CDC stresses that as the Zika outbreaks are ongoing in Latin America and the Caribbean region, pregnant women are advised to postpone their trips to areas affected by Zika virus. If visits to affected areas are necessary, an active follow-up following the trip is recommended. Travelers visiting affected areas are urged to take precautions against mosquito bites such as wearing light-colored clothing, long sleeves and long pants, applying officially approved mosquito repellent to exposed parts of the body, staying at accommodations installed with window screens, screen doors or air conditioners. People returning from Zika-affected areas are advised to use condoms when having sex for at least 28 days to prevent Zika transmission. Further, Taiwan CDC urges travelers returning from affected areas to proactively contact the quarantine officer at the fever screening station at the airport when suspected symptoms develop. If symptoms develop within two weeks of their return,please seek immediate medical attention and inform the physician of their travel history. For more information, please visit the Taiwan CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Consultation Hotline,1922 (or 0800-001922).