Tue, Jul 06, 2021 page1

• Daily new virus cases lowest since May

  BACK TO WORK: Six requirements were laid out for Huannan Market, which is resuming operations today, including negative PCR tests and real-name registration

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday reported 28 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the lowest number since the outbreak started in May.

  The center also reported one death, a woman in her 70s, who had an underlying health condition. It also reported that the average age of COVID-19 deaths in the nation is 73, and that 90.1 percent had underlying health conditions.

  Of the 28 local cases, 19 were female and nine were male, ranging in age from younger than five to older than 90, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.

  

  A woman looks away as she is vaccinated against COVID-19 by a medical worker in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times

  Thirteen of the cases tested positive during quarantine or upon ending quarantine, he said.

  Taipei reported 15 cases, followed by New Taipei City with five, Taoyuan with three and Miaoli County with two. Keelung, and Pingtung and Hsinchu counties reported one each.

  The sources of 16 cases have been identified, while 11 cases are under investigation and the source for one was unclear, Chen said.

  

  A worker sprays disinfectant at Houlong Market in Miaoli County’s Houlong Township yesterday after a man who visited the area last month was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19.

  Photo courtesy of the Miaoli County Government via CNA

  The center also reported three imported cases — one child who returned from the US, and two men who returned from the UK and Saudi Arabia.

  Asked if the center was considering removing the level 3 COVID-19 alert on Monday next week for cities and counties other than Taipei and New Taipei City, Chen said the center has not made a decision, but that the restrictions on some businesses might be modified.

  “The whole of Taiwan is within one-day traveling distance, so restrictions must be the same throughout the nation,” he said.

  However, enhanced disease prevention measures could be implemented in hotspots, rather than by city or county, he added.

  A new case linked to the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 has been confirmed in Pingtung County, but the person has been under isolation and poses little risk to the local community, he said.

  The person likely contracted the disease from two earlier confirmed cases, Chen said.

  A new case was also detected in expanded testing at Huannan Market (環南市場) in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), bringing the total number of cases at the city’s three worst-affected markets to 232, he said.

  Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of 2,800 workers at Huannan Market is to be conducted tomorrow, while testing of 1,300 workers at the First Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market in Wanhua is to be conducted on Thursday.

  Huannan Market, which is resuming operations today, has to follow six requirements — all workers have to present a negative PCR result to gain entry; workers have to wear face shields and masks; crowd capacity must be reduced to 50 percent; separating the flow of people moving between different floors; real-name registration; and health monitoring of all workers, the center said.

  Of the 13,696 local cases reported from May 11 to Sunday, 2,712 people, or 19.8 percent, were considered severe cases, while 675 people died as a result, specialist advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said.

  Of the 675 deaths, the average age was 73 and 608, or 90.1 percent, had an underlying health condition, Chang said.

  An analysis showed that the most common health conditions were hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, stroke, cancer and hyperlipidemia, he said, adding that the majority had more than one condition.
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