The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported one new COVID-19 infection, adding that three travelers from Taiwan tested positive in other countries. It also said that samples from case Nos. 530 and 536, which were reported earlier, had been mixed up.
The new patient, Taiwan’s 551st confirmed case, is an Indonesian migrant worker in her teens, who has not shown any symptoms since arriving in Taiwan on Oct. 7, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said.
She provided a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken three days before she left Indonesia, he said, adding that she was tested again on Monday, after her quarantine ended on Thursday last week.
Among 25 of her close contacts in Taiwan, 10 other Indonesian workers who arrived with her all tested negative for COVID-19, but have been placed under home isolation, the CECC said.
The remaining 15 people have taken protective measures and were asked to practice self-health management, the center said.
The CECC has received reports of a traveler from Taiwan who tested positive in Thailand and two travelers from Taiwan who tested positive in Japan, Chen said.
The cases in Japan are two men — a Taiwanese in his 20s and a Japanese in his 50s — who arrived in Japan on Wednesday and Friday last week, he said, adding that they have not experienced any symptoms, but tested positive in antigen tests conducted at the airport.
The Taiwanese tested negative twice in Taiwan on Oct. 14 and Tuesday last week, and also tested negative again in Japan on Tuesday, Chen said.
The case reported in Thailand is a Taiwanese in his 60s, who tested negative in Taiwan on Oct. 6, arrived in Thailand with no symptoms on Oct. 8 and also tested negative in Thailand on Oct. 11, he said.
However, as the man developed a cough and a mild fever on Oct. 17, he was tested again on Monday last week and the result came back positive, Chen said.
A total of 39 close contacts of the three men have been identified, of whom 28 have been tested, with PCR and antibody tests of 20 people coming back negative, and the rest still awaiting results, the CECC said.
Chen said that additional tests would be administered to case Nos. 530 and 536.
Case No. 530, a Taiwanese man who on Oct. 13 returned from China’s Jiangsu Province and tested positive on arrival in a PCR test with a relatively low CT-value, indicating a recent infection, tested negative in subsequent tests, which was an unusual situation, Chen said.
An investigation on testing procedures was launched on Oct. 15, and 31 people whose tests had been processed in the same machine as case No. 530’s samples were tested again, he said.
The retesting on Monday led to the positive test of a Taiwanese man in his 20s who returned from France, making him the nation’s 536th case, he added.
Chen said that after running DNA tests, the center found that the deep throat saliva specimens collected from the two cases had been mixed up during the examination process.
The CECC would inform the Chinese authorities and the National IHR Focal Point that it withdrew the confirmation of case No. 530, Chen said, adding that the center has encouraged laboratories to enhance their error-proofing mechanisms.
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