The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced 15 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Taiwan to 298.
Fourteen of the new cases — nine men and five women — are imported cases who had returned to Taiwan between March 14 and Friday, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
Among them are three clusters of cases, including a married couple who visited Indonesia form March 10 to March 14, developed symptoms on Sunday last week and sought medical help on Thursday, he said.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
The second clustered case is a man who visited Morocco from March 10 to Sunday last week in a tour group, in which another traveler tested positive last week, Chen said.
The third clustered case is also a married couple. The husband visited Spain and Portugal in a tour group from March 7 to March 16, but his wife had not traveled abroad recently.
They both tested positive for COVID-19, Chen said.
The wife, who is yesterday’s sole domestic case, could have been infected by her husband, the CECC said.
One of the imported cases, the nation’s 284th, is a man who worked in the Philippines and returned to Taiwan on March 20 on the same commercial flight — EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) Flight BR282 — with another confirmed case, the nation’s 277th, which was confirmed on Saturday, Chen said.
People who were on the flight should immediately contact local health departments if they develop COVID-19 symptoms, the CECC said.
Although the two cases had greeted each other at the airport in the Philippines before boarding the flight, the center considers the likelihood of them contracting the coronavirus in the Philippines to be higher, Chen said.
Seven of the new cases had been under home quarantine, four were detected at the airport upon arrival and four sought medical treatment on their own, he said.
Following the confirmation of two domestic cases with unclear sources of infection on Saturday, the center has identified 449 people who have had come into contact with case No. 268, Chen said, adding that most of them would need to perform self-health management and would not be tested.
The person visited New Taipei City’s Jinshan Old Street (金山老街) and Miao Kou thick pork soup (廟口肉羹) between 5:20pm and 6:54pm on Feb. 29, and visited Wulai Old Street (烏來老街) and the food stalls there from 2:30pm to 4:48pm on March 15, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.
However, the center could not identify other people who visited the venues while the person was there, he said.
The other domestic case announced on Saturday, the nation’s 269th, was found to have come into contact with an imported case (No. 277) on March 20, Chen said.
Meanwhile, the nation’s 156th case, reported on Sunday last week, a nurse working at a long-term care facility, was yesterday discharged from hospital, making it the shortest period of hospitalization for a COVID-19 patient in Taiwan, he said.
Chen also said that students at a senior-high school in northern Taiwan can return to school today after 74 people who had come into contact with a cluster of cases at the school tested negative for COVID-19.
The nation’s 59th case, a student at the school, had tested positive after returning from a trip to Greece, causing classes to be suspended for two weeks.
Asked if the CECC suggests any enhanced disease prevention measures, Chen said people should keep practicing social distancing, such as when waiting in lines, adding that the center is discussing whether to draft stricter regulations.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS