Taiwan tightens school-season respiratory response as WHO updates Ebola guidance and FDA posts safety alerts

Moki

4 min read·2026/08/24

Moki

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Today’s health agenda sits at the intersection of outbreak control and product safety: Taiwan expanded flu antiviral access before schools reopen, COVID remains active, WHO and ECDC sharpened the response to Bundibugyo Ebola in the DRC, WHO recognized Mozambique’s regulatory upgrade, and FDA posted drug and food-safety alerts.

Image / cdc.gov.tw

Taiwan expands public flu antivirals before school reopening

Taiwan CDC expanded eligibility for publicly funded influenza antivirals from August 24 through September 30 after influenza-like illness visits reached 95,011 in week 32, up 1.2% from the previous week. The temporary policy covers high-transmission groups including health and epidemic-response workers, residents and staff in long-term care facilities, childcare and kindergarten staff, students from kindergarten through senior high school and the first three years of five-year junior colleges, caregivers or household members of people at high risk of severe flu, livestock and animal-disease workers, and people in crowded institutions such as military camps. Eligible patients with flu-like symptoms can receive publicly funded antivirals after clinical assessment without a rapid flu test, and supplies are placed in about 4,000 contracted medical facilities nationwide.

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Image / cdc.gov.tw

COVID remains active as schools prepare for September

Taiwan’s COVID wave remains in an epidemic period ahead of the new school term. CDC data for week 32 showed 26,214 outpatient and emergency visits, up 4.5% week over week; from August 11 to 17, Taiwan added 84 local severe cases and 12 deaths. Since October 2025, Taiwan has recorded 421 local severe COVID complication cases and 54 deaths, with severe disease concentrated among people aged 65 and older and those with chronic conditions. The dominant local variant in the past four weeks was PQ.16.1.1. Taiwan CDC asked schools to reinforce hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, ventilation and cleaning; the current seasonal COVID vaccine remains available until September 9 for older adults and people at higher risk.

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Image / who.int

WHO updates Bundibugyo Ebola recommendations for the DRC

WHO issued updated temporary recommendations on August 24 after the second meeting of its IHR Emergency Committee on Bundibugyo virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. WHO assessed the risk for states with community transmission as very high and noted that the outbreak is caused by Bundibugyo virus, for which no approved therapeutics or vaccines currently exist, although trials are ongoing. The recommendations put renewed weight on national emergency coordination, surveillance, contact tracing, investigation of alerts within 24 hours, decentralized RT-PCR testing, isolation and treatment capacity, uninterrupted supplies, and ethical trials of candidate vaccines and therapeutics. WHO’s message is that medical countermeasures may help if proven, but they cannot replace core public-health interventions.

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Image / European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

ECDC data show the DRC outbreak is still expanding

ECDC’s August 24 update reported 5,514 confirmed cases and 2,642 related deaths in the DRC as of data through August 22, with 808 patients hospitalized in isolation. That was an increase of 55 confirmed cases and 36 deaths from the previous daily report, with new cases mainly in Ituri, North Kivu and Haut Uele. Ituri remains the most affected province, with 4,607 cases and 2,065 deaths, and the outbreak spans 57 health zones across six provinces. ECDC still considers infection for people living in the EU/EEA very unlikely, but imported cases previously treated in Germany and France show why medical evacuation, fever assessment after travel, and high-risk facility preparedness remain important.

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Image / who.int

Mozambique reaches WHO regulatory maturity level 3

WHO announced on August 24 that Mozambique’s medicines regulator, ANARME, had achieved Maturity Level 3 for the regulation of medicines and imported vaccines. ML3 means WHO recognizes a stable, well-functioning and integrated regulatory system. Mozambique is the 10th African country to reach the level and the first Portuguese-speaking country in Africa to do so. WHO’s benchmarking covers functions such as marketing authorization, licensing, market surveillance, pharmacovigilance, regulatory inspection, laboratory testing and clinical-trial oversight. The milestone matters because stronger regulation improves confidence in medicine and vaccine quality, safety and efficacy, while supporting wider African regulatory cooperation and the emerging African Medicines Agency.

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FDA posts thyroid-tablet recall and keeps Cyclospora investigation open

FDA on August 24 posted a nationwide consumer-level recall of one lot of Vitruvias Therapeutics Thyroid Tablets, USP 30 mg, lot 504950, after testing confirmed the product could be superpotent. The lot expires on September 30, 2026, and 1,955 units were sold. FDA warned that excess thyroid hormone can cause weight loss, heat intolerance, fatigue, nervousness, muscle weakness, hypertension, chest pain, rapid heart rate and rhythm disturbances, with higher risk for older adults, pregnant women and infants; patients should not stop treatment without consulting a healthcare provider. FDA also continued to flag its Cyclospora outbreak investigation: as of August 20, illnesses linked to iceberg lettuce from central Mexico totaled 10,930 cases, 454 hospitalizations and two deaths, while the agency said recalled products should no longer be on the market.

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