The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported a domestic case of COVID-19, associated with a recent cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital, and two imported cases.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the latest case (No. 885) is a woman in her 50s, who is the third daughter of case No. 881, a man in his 90s.
The woman is the main caregiver of her elderly father, who had been hospitalized earlier this month and was treated by a nurse (case No. 852) from Monday to Thursday last week, he said, adding that the nurse tested positive on Saturday last week.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
Chen said that the woman tested negative on Jan. 11 and Sunday last week, and had been placed in home isolation with her father and two older sisters.
As the woman’s father and her eldest sister (case No. 882) were confirmed to have COVID-19 on Friday, she was tested for the third time and the result came back positive yesterday, he said, adding that contact tracing is being conducted.
The eldest sister visited Taoyuan’s Chungping evening market (仲平黃昏市場) on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the exact times are being investigated, Chen said.
He urged people who visited the market on those two evenings to practice self-health management until Feb. 3, saying that they should wear a mask and seek medical attention or call the center’s 1922 hotline immediately if they develop COVID-19-like symptoms.
The middle sister tested negative on Jan. 11, on Sunday last week and on Friday, so she would not be tested again unless she shows symptoms or if it is necessary when she completes isolation, Chen said.
He said that 967 people associated with the hospital cluster, including 403 hospital employees, have been put in isolation — the largest group of people in Taiwan to be placed in isolation since the outbreak of COVID-19.
A large “firewall” has been built — by putting people who have been exposed to confirmed cases under isolation — in an effort to contain the virus, Chen said, adding that the cluster would be deemed under control if new cases are among individuals “inside the firewall.”
However, if new cases are found “outside the firewall” and the possible infection source cannot be traced, the situation would become an urgent concern, he added.
Of the two imported cases reported yesterday, one was a British teenager who tested positive in the UK on Dec. 28 last year.
He self-isolated for 10 days and provided a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) result obtained within three days before boarding a plane to Taiwan, and arrived on Wednesday, Chen said.
He did not have symptoms during quarantine, but after he was tested on Thursday in a special project for travelers from the UK, his result came back positive yesterday, he said.
The other was a US student, who arrived in Taiwan on Dec. 31 last year, Chen said, adding that she had provided a negative PCR result from Dec. 24 last year, but she tested positive in a paid test on Thursday after completing 14 days of quarantine at a hotel.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)