AS news over the death of Taiwanese star Barbie Hsu, who was hugely popular across Asia for her leading role in the 2001 television drama “Meteor Garden”, due to respiratory illness, focus has been set on the influenza cases in Japan where the actress spent some time before contracting the sickness.
According to the Agence France Presse report, Japan in the last week of December experienced the biggest influenza outbreak since comparable data became available 25 years ago, quoting health authorities.
The latest health ministry analysis of data gathered from 5,000 medical clinics showed that from December 23-29, 317,812 people were diagnosed with flu.
That is more than three times the 104,612 cases recorded in the same period in 2023, and the most for any week since records began in 1999, the ministry said.
Cases of flu often rise in the winter in Japan and elsewhere, but some countries have seen large jumps in cases recently including in France and Britain.
Australia logged more than 350,000 laboratory-confirmed flu cases last year — dwarfing a previous high of 313,615 in 2019, according to its national diseases surveillance system.
Barbie Hsu, 48
Hsu passed away after developing pneumonia during a family trip to Japan over the Lunar New Year holiday, the younger of her two sisters was quoted as saying.
“My dearest and kindest sister Barbie Hsu sadly left us due to influenza complications that led to pneumonia,” the younger Hsu said in a statement shared by her agent and reported by the semi-official Central News Agency.
“I’m grateful to have been her sister in this lifetime, to take care of each other, accompany each other, I will forever be thankful to her and miss her.”
Hsu’s death was the top trending topic on China’s X-like Weibo platform on Monday.
Fans in Taiwan, the Philippines and elsewhere also paid tribute to her on social media.
Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming, who starred with Hsu in another Taiwanese drama, said he was “in shock and deep grief” over her death.
“I’ve heard that truly brilliant souls are never dimmed by time — they remain vibrant, like bubbles shining in the sun,” Huang said on Weibo.
Filipino fan Edmalyn Canton wrote on Facebook: “Thank you for bringing joy to my childhood. You will always be my favorite version of Meteor Garden and will forever be remembered.”
Stacy Hsu, a Taiwanese celebrity, posted on Facebook that Hsu’s “beauty and intelligence will forever remain in our hearts.”
Animal rights group PETA said it was “heartbroken” over Hsu’s death, noting she was “one of the first and biggest stars” to support the organisation.
Hsu and her younger sister Dee rose to fame in the 1990s as a pop duo before switching to hosting TV shows and acting.
It was the elder Hsu’s role as Dong Shan Cai in Taiwan’s popular 2001 television series “Meteor Garden” that made her a star across Asia.
The show about an ordinary girl attending an elite university was originally based on a Japanese manga series.
It was later remade in China and now screens on Netflix.
Hsu’s acting career dimmed in recent years but appearances in reality television shows and dramas in her off-screen life kept her in the celebrity gossip pages.
Hsu married Chinese businessman Wang Xiaofei in 2010 and they had two children, Taiwanese media reported.
The couple divorced in 2021, and the following year Hsu tied the knot with an ex-boyfriend, South Korean DJ and singer Koo Jun-yup.
For now no official statement was issued by the World Health Organization with regards to the influenza situation in Japan, as the government is said to be on top of the situation and no outbreak is being noted.
