A small cluster of COVID-19 infections involving EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) pilots is under control, while a cluster linked to a preschool has likely run its course, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
No new cases have been linked to the EVA Airways cluster since two pilots were reported to have the disease on Sept. 3 and the son of one of them was reported as being infected the following day, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
A total of 519 people who were listed as contacts of the three were quarantined for 14 days and tested negative for COVID-19, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
Chen said it was “case closed” for the small cluster of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration on Friday said it had fined the pilot who was found to have spread the disease to his son NT$400,000 (US$14,422).
He was also dismissed from the airline for contravening quarantine protocols.
EVA Airways was fined NT$12 million for its failure to supervise the pilot, the agency added.
Regarding the Delta variant cluster at a preschool and apartment complex in New Taipei City, Chen said it would be clear today if the spread of the disease had run its course.
From Sept. 5 to Thursday, 33 cases were linked to a preschool in the city’s Banciao District (板橋) and a residential building where one of the cases lived, the CECC said.
The cases included 10 children and two staff members from the preschool, as well as relatives, neighbors and people who came into contact with them, it said.
Among the 3,600 people listed as contacts, 3,472 tested negative for COVID-19, while 2,638 people have been quarantined, Chen said.
Once the test results of the last batch of 100 contacts come back today, the CECC would be able to determine whether the cluster was under control, he said.
The clusters were not linked, as the groups contracted genetically distinct versions of the Delta variant, Chen said.
Initial genome sequencing also found that an airplane cabin cleaner at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport was not infected with the same Delta variant identified in either clusters, he said.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said that health authorities have identified the aircraft the cleaner worked on, which carried one or two imported cases of COVID-19 from the Middle East earlier this month.
While no new local cases were reported, Chen said that the public should remain vigilant during the four-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, which began yesterday.
The CECC reported six new imported COVID-19 cases. They are two Taiwanese returning from the Philippines, and three Indonesians and one Bangladeshi traveling from their respective countries.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS