The results of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for a COVID-19 cluster connected to Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) are expected to become available today, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported one locally transmitted COVID-19 infection.
The extent of the cluster would become clearer once all the tests are released in the morning, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, told a daily news briefing in Taipei.
There have been four confirmed cases linked to the Taipower Building in Taipei, including two employees who work on the seventh floor.
Photo: Lin Ching-hua, Taipei Times
The latest case is the child of an employee who had tested positive for the virus, Chen said.
The child attends kindergarten, he said, adding that classes at the kindergarten would be suspended for three days.
As the new case was discovered shortly before yesterday’s briefing, it would be listed with any new cases today, Chen said.
The domestic case of COVID-19 reported yesterday is a Taiwanese man in his 50s with no recent history of travel — either domestically or abroad, the CECC said.
He had accompanied a family member to a hospital on Wednesday, and because the relative required hospitalization, the man was tested for COVID-19 on the same day, the center said.
He was a case of asymptomatic infection, the CECC said, adding that contact tracing was under way.
The CECC also recorded five imported cases of COVID-19 — arrivals from the US, Lithuania, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates and Iran.
The four men and one woman — aged 20 to 59 — arrived in Taiwan between Aug. 6 and Tuesday, the center said.
Two have been vaccinated against COVID-19, CECC data showed.
One of them received a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Thursday last week, while the other received Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine on Aug. 5, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
As a result, they were not fully vaccinated at the time of their arrival, he added.
Five deaths from confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported yesterday.
They were three men and two women aged 60 to 89 who died between Friday last week and Tuesday, the CECC said.
All five had chronic health conditions, CECC data showed.
As of yesterday, the CECC has recorded 15,897 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,356 imported and 14,488 domestic cases, with 826 deaths.
From the start of a local outbreak on May 11 to Tuesday, 14,681 COVID-19 cases were reported, of which 13,545, or 92.3 percent, have recovered, CECC data showed.
Additional reporting by CNA
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