Taiwanese actor Barbie Hsu, who rose to fame across East Asia as the romantic lead in the 2001 television drama "Meteor Garden", has died of influenza aged 48, her sister said on Monday.

Her ex-husband Wang Xiaofei has been slammed for commenting that he missed her and should have been the one who died. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Hospitals and health agencies in Taiwan have reported a surge in flu vaccine inquiries after news broke that Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu died in Japan from influenza-related pneumonia.