A recent COVID-19 cluster outbreak in Beijing did not originate in Taiwan, despite its genetic similarity to a strain here, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
A strain was imported to Taiwan by 13 people who were confirmed to have the novel coronavirus after they took a holiday in Turkey from March 4 to 13, CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said in a video statement.
“It looks like the patients were most likely infected in Turkey and the European strain was then imported to Taiwan,” Chuang said.
When Taiwan discovered the strain, it uploaded its viral sequence to international platforms to share the information, Chuang said.
He made the statement after media reports in Hong Kong quoted experts as saying that the strain in Beijing is similar to ones in Taiwan, the Czech Republic and Europe.
After more than 50 days without a locally transmitted COVID-19 case in Beijing, the city reported one case on June 11, which rose to 183 as of Friday amid a cluster linked to the Xinfadi wholesale market.
Since the start of the pandemic, China has recorded a total of 84,970 cases with 4,645 deaths, according to the WHO.
Taiwan has confirmed 446 cases, with 434 recoveries, seven deaths and five people in hospital quarantine, according to the CECC.
The last time Taiwan recorded a domestic infection was on April 12, according to CECC statistics.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash