A growing cluster of COVID-19 cases that started at a religious gathering in Taipei has become an issue of major concern, as all but one of 16 new domestic cases recorded yesterday were linked to the gathering, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said.
The first case in the cluster was confirmed on Sunday — a male New Taipei City resident who had contracted the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 — and since then the number has grown to 30, including 15 reported yesterday, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, told a news conference.
The man’s roommate and three other contacts are among those who have tested positive for COVID-19, Chen said, adding that one of them had been part of the religious gathering in Taipei on Sunday.
Photo: CNA
On Thursday, eight people who were at the gathering were confirmed to be infected with COVID-19, while 15 of the 16 new domestic cases reported yesterday were also linked to the cluster — seven in New Taipei City, five in Taipei, two in Kaohsiung and one in Tainan, he said.
The CECC sees the cluster as a matter of major concern, given that people who attended the gathering on Sunday traveled from across Taiwan, he said.
Local authorities are working on contact tracing of confirmed cases in an effort to contain the spread of the disease, Chen added.
Meanwhile, the one other new domestic case reported yesterday was the child of a Tainan resident who had tested positive on Wednesday after he visited a friend in Kaohsiung, the CECC said.
The friend is the relative of an employee at the Dalin Refinery Plant in Kaohsiung, which has been the site of another domestic cluster of nine cases that is now under control, as about 3,000 contacts have tested negative, Chen said.
Two of the employee’s relatives, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, were confirmed to be infected with the Omicron BA.2 variant of SARS-CoV-2, which had caused a cluster linked to the Port of Kaohsiung, he said.
At a separate news conference, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said that two new COVID-19 cases were reported in the city on Thursday which were part of the religious gathering cluster.
One is an employee at a Yageo Corp factory in Kaohsiung and 180 of his 392 identified contacts have tested negative so far, the mayor said.
In Tainan, the city government said that 71 people had been listed as contacts of a woman who was part of the religious gathering, while 41 have been identified as contacts of her child, who tested positive after being placed in quarantine.
Thirteen of yesterday’s new domestic cases were classified as breakthrough infections, while three were unvaccinated, including a boy under the age of 10 who is not eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Taiwan, the CECC said.
In addition to the domestic cases, the CECC reported 51 imported cases yesterday.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS