A total of 2,991 people associated with a COVID-19 cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital have been put under home isolation, after an emergency expanded isolation order was issued on Sunday evening, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
Fifteen people have so far tested positive in the cluster infection. The first case in the cluster (case No. 838) was reported on Jan. 12 — a doctor who treated an infected patient who had returned from the US.
Contact tracing for the first 13 cases found connections to case No. 838, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
Photo: Lin Kuo-hsien, Taipei Times
However, the two latest cases reported on Sunday — a man who had been hospitalized and his wife (case Nos. 889 and 890) — are a “warning” that calls for “increased vigilance,” because their infection source have not been identified yet, Chen said.
With the expanded isolation order, three categories of people who were at the hospital from Jan. 6 to Tuesday last week were immediately put under home isolation starting from 6:30pm on Sunday.
The three categories are: patients who have been discharged and people living in the same home with them; caregivers of hospitalized patients and people living with them; and people who were exposed to case No. 889 when he sought medical treatment.
Chen on Sunday evening said that more than 5,000 people linked to the hospital cluster are expected to be put in isolation.
As of noon yesterday, 2,991 people had already been put under home isolation, he said.
They comprise 422 hospital employees, 304 people in local communities who had close contact with confirmed cases and 2,265 people recalled for emergency expanded isolation on Sunday, he said.
Of the people recalled, 1,048 are patients who were discharged from the hospital and 1,217 are caregivers of hospitalized patients or family members of patients who live with them, CECC data showed.
Chen said the number of people placed under home isolation is expected to increase, as contact tracing is still being conducted.
The number of personnel at the CECC’s 1922 hotline were increased from 36 to 98 on Sunday, but response speed was still relatively slow, as the hotline received nearly 10,000 calls, he said, adding that a total of 213 hotline personnel were deployed yesterday to help answer the calls.
Asked by reporters about the emergency expanded isolation order, Chen said people who fall in the categories, but who have not received an official isolation notice should “stay at home and wait to be informed by their local health department.”
After receiving a notice, they should practice home isolation for 14 days starting from the day after they left the hospital, undergo a mandatory polymerase chain reaction test upon ending isolation and continue with an additional seven days of self-health management, he said.
People who sought treatment at the hospital’s outpatient or emergency departments after Jan. 6 are required to practice 14 days of self-health management starting from the day after they sought treatment, Chen said.
The National Health Insurance cards of those people have been temporarily flagged so that doctors at other healthcare facilities would know about their exposure to the Taoyuan hospital if they seek medical attention elsewhere, he added.
Chen said people under self-health management should take their temperature daily in the morning and evening, frequently wash their hands, wear a mask at all times when going outdoors, and refrain from taking public transportation or going to public places where they cannot practice social distancing.
People under isolation, quarantine or self-health management linked to the hospital cluster are encouraged to consult with emergency doctors through the CECC’s mobile app launched on Sunday if they feel discomfort, he said.
The center plans to discuss with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications whether to tighten regulations on high-speed rail trains during the Lunar New Year holiday, he said.
MAKING A MOVE: Starting on Monday, short-term business travelers can apply for shorter quarantine periods, while transits of up to eight hours would be allowed The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced an easing of restrictions that would from Monday next week allow foreigners to visit or make a transit flight in Taiwan. A policy allowing short-term business travelers from countries with low or medium risks of COVID-19 infections to apply for shorter quarantine periods is also to resume that day. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that while the autumn-winter COVID-19 prevention program is to be extended after the end of this month, special conditions for foreign nationals to enter Taiwan would be restored from Monday. Foreign nationals
‘UNFRIENDLY’: COA Minister Chen Chi-chung said that Beijing probably imposed the sanction because the pineapple production season is about to start in Taiwan More than 99 percent of pineapples sold to China passed inspections, the government said yesterday, after China earlier in the day abruptly suspended imports of pineapples from the nation, which Taipei called an “unfriendly” move. From Monday, China is to stop importing pineapples from Taiwan, the Chinese General Administration of Customs said. The regulation is a normal measure for ensuring biosafety, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) said in a news release later yesterday. Since last year, Chinese customs officials have repeatedly seized pineapples imported from Taiwan that carried “perilous organisms,” Ma said. Were the organisms to spread in China, they would
‘ONE PERSON PER UNIT’: People undergoing home isolation cannot stay in a housing unit in which non-isolated people live, unless they have special approval Starting tomorrow, people under home isolation would be required to follow the “one person per housing unit” rule if in private housing, or stay at a quarantine hotel or centralized quarantine facility, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the rules require people under home quarantine to be quarantined with one person per housing unit, or at a quarantine hotel or centralized quarantine facility. “Starting on March 1, individuals under home isolation will also be subject to the ‘one person per housing unit’ rule,” he said. “We
CHIPS: Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua said Taiwan and the US have a track record of working closely together, of being ‘undeniably trustworthy partners’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered a review of US supply chains, seeking to end the country’s reliance on China and other adversaries for crucial goods. However, the process could take months, offering no immediate solution for a shortfall of semiconductors that has idled vehicle production at several US factories. The Biden administration’s 100-day review is to cover chips, but also large-capacity batteries, pharmaceuticals and strategic materials, such as rare earth elements, a White House statement said. Although Biden did not specifically mention Taiwan on this occasion, the US last month appealed to Taiwan to help with the semiconductor shortages. Media outlets such
RSS