The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday ordered that all hostess clubs and dance halls suspend operations, effective immediately, as it reported one new case of COVID-19 in the nation.
Preventing community transmission is an important part of the nation’s efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19, Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is deputy head of the center, said at the center’s daily media briefing in Taipei.
The center also called for cooperation from the local governments of the nation’s 22 cities and counties, saying that it would need their assistance in enforcing the closures.
Photo: Huang Liang-chieh, Taipei Times
The center reported just one new case of COVID-19, while the number of deaths in Taiwan from the novel coronavirus remained at five.
The new case — the nation’s 380th — is a man in his 20s who is a roommate of the nation’s 322nd case, the center said.
He is asymptomatic and went into home isolation on Monday last week, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said, adding that the man was tested for the virus on Monday.
Health authorities have disinfected the university attended by the 322nd and 380th cases, including dormitories and public areas, said Chen, who heads the center.
The school has adopted distance learning until Friday next week, he added.
Local media reports identified the school as National Taiwan Normal University.
The university yesterday said in a statement that it on Wednesday received a notice from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of a second confirmed case of COVID-19 at the school.
Following notification of its first confirmed case late on Monday last week, the university said that it immediately took the necessary precautions and disinfected spaces that had been visited by the 322nd case.
The entire campus was disinfected over last week’s four-day Children’s Day and Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend, the university said, adding that the condition of the 322nd case has improved.
The 380th case is not enrolled in courses at other schools, nor are students from other schools enrolled in any of the classes he attended, it said.
The center has been provided with information about the students and teachers the two cases might have been in contact with on campus to cooperate with contact investigations, the university said, adding that it would continue to cooperate with the CDC and the Ministry of Education.
Under the education ministry’s guidelines, in-person classes at a university campus must be suspended for 14 days in the event of two or more confirmed cases of COVID-19.
As it had already begun school-wide distance learning on Monday, the suspension of on-campus classes is to end on Friday next week, the university said.
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