The Kaohsiung Department of Health has tracked down nearly 100 people who have had contact with an Indonesian factory worker after she visited a friend in New Taipei City who later tested positive for COVID-19.
The friend — an Indonesian caregiver — was on Sunday confirmed as the nation’s 32nd COVID-19 patient, and the search began after a check of the people she came in contact with included the Indonesian factory worker, a Gangshan District (岡山) resident who also fell ill.
The investigation found that the factory worker visited a local clinic on Saturday last week because of a sore throat, after which she went to a hot pot restaurant with three friends.
Photo: Huang Hsu-lei, Taipei Times
She was taken to a hospital and quarantined on Sunday, department official Pan Chao-ying (潘炤穎) said yesterday.
In a first round of testing, the worker tested negative for the virus, but the hospital is doing another round of tests.
Tracing her movements, Pan said the worker traveled to New Taipei City on Feb. 16 and returned to Kaohsiung via high-speed rail on Tuesday last week.
After arriving at Zuoying Station, she took the MRT to her workplace in Gangshan.
In the days that followed, the worker made contact with nearly 100 people, including friends, coworkers at the factory and medical workers at the clinic she visited, the department said.
Those known to have come in contact with the Indonesian worker have been asked to follow self-health management guidelines for 14 days, Pan said.
On Thursday, the Central Epidemic Command Center detailed the movements of the Indonesian caregiver confirmed to have the virus.
From Feb. 16 to 24, the caregiver took public transportation in the Greater Taipei area and passed through Taipei Railway Station several times.
She also took the Taiwan Railways Administration train to Shulin and Banciao stations, visited Taipei City Mall and Longshan Temple (龍山寺), as well as took the Sanchong Bus “Blue 38” line, and the Taipei MRT Tamsui-Xinyi, Bannan and Zhonghe-Xinlu lines.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
RSS