The nation’s 27th and 28th confirmed cases of COVID-19 were announced by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday, which also issued a level 1 “watch” travel notice for Italy and Iran amid reports of a rapid rise in confirmed cases in the two nations.
The 27th case is a man in his 80s who has chronic hypertension and diabetes and is on dialysis, but has not been abroad recently, while the 28th case is his son, who is in his 50s and lives with his father, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.
The older man began suffering coughs and a runny nose on Feb. 6 and was hospitalized for pneumonia in a single-room ward after he developed a fever on Feb. 9, Chuang said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
He was transferred to an intensive care unit on Sunday last week and moved to a negative pressure isolation ward on Thursday for suspected tuberculosis, he said.
The son developed a fever, runny nose and sore throat on Jan. 31, sought treatment on Feb. 4 and was diagnosed with pneumonia on Feb. 8, but returned home for self-health management before making two return visits for treatment on Feb. 11 and Tuesday.
The pair were reported as suspected COVID-19 cases on Friday, and the test results that came back yesterday were positive, Chuang said, adding that officials have begun a contact investigation to screen family members and close contacts of the pair, along with healthcare personnel who might have come into contact with them.
The center suspects the family’s younger son, who is in his 40s and lives with his father and brother, might be the source of infection, as he frequently visits China for work, Chuang said.
The younger man returned from Guangzhou on Dec. 2 last year, but late last month he had a meal with friends who had returned from China, and developed a sore throat on Jan. 29, Chuang said.
CDC Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said the younger man has been hospitalized and tested for COVID-19.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), head of the CECC, said all 19 Taiwanese passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship who returned home on a charter flight on Friday have tested negative for COVID-19 for a second time.
They are being quarantined for another 14 days, but the location of the quarantine site would not be made public, he said.
The CECC will cooperate with local governments on home-isolation and home-quarantine care services by providing medical assistance, transportation arrangements, life support and other services for people under home quarantine, Chen said.
The project would begin this coming Sunday and the center has told local governments to establish special hotlines for the services, so that people under home quarantine can receive help more effectively, the minister said.
Meanwhile, the CECC issued a level 1 “watch” travel notice for Italy and Iran, which advises travelers to practice the usual precautions.
Asked if the CECC would impose additional border controls on passengers from Japan and South Korea, Chen said that specialists are discussing whether enhanced measures, such as mandatory home quarantine, should be imposed, as the number of COVID-19 cases in those nations continue to rise.
Asked whether mass public events should be canceled or postponed nationally, given that more than 100 confirmed cases in South Korea were linked to a church, Chou said the risk of local transmission is still relatively low, so public events would not be banned yet.
However, event organizers should make sure they are familiar with the COVID-19 prevention guidelines on the CDC’s Web site, the health minister said.
The guidelines could change if the COVID-19 situation in Taiwan changes, he added.
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