The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported seven locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, three of whom were linked to a family cluster in Taipei and New Taipei City.
One of the family members, a man in his 40s who lives in New Taipei City, developed a sore throat and fever on Wednesday, and tested positive for COVID-19 in a self-administered rapid test, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), the CECC’s spokesman, told a news conference.
The man immediately sought another test at a hospital, with the result coming back positive yesterday with a cycle threshold value of 14.4, which indicates a high viral load, Chuang said.
Photo courtesy of the CECC
The source of the man’s infection remains unknown, he said, adding that two of the man’s relatives, who live in Taipei, also tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday.
They are among 107 people identified as contacts, of whom 94 have so far tested negative for the disease, Chuang said.
The four other local cases are two women and two men in Tainan whose infections are linked to a tour group cluster that began with a Kaohsiung buffet restaurant employee, who tested positive for the disease last month, the CECC said.
Several of the employee’s family members, including her parents, have tested positive, and the cluster has since spread to a hospital in Tainan, prompting it to suspend outpatient services until tomorrow, after two employees at the hospital tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.
They are a pharmacist and a pharmacy assistant, and genome sequencing showed that both cases are linked to the tour group cluster, which now totals 24 cases, said CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
The CECC also reported 75 imported cases, including 45 travelers who tested positive upon arrival. The CECC did not release any information regarding the vaccination status of the imported cases.
To date, Taiwan has confirmed 21,163 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 15,482 domestically transmitted infections.
With no deaths reported yesterday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 fatalities in the country remains at 853.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
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DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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