The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced six new cases of COVID-19 in Taiwan, all believed to have been imported, the highest number of new confirmed cases in one day, which brought the total to 59.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the nation’s 54th case visited Thailand and Japan; the 55th case led a tour group of 32 people to Egypt; the 56th and 57th cases traveled to Turkey in a group of 15 people; the 58th case is a student who studied in Spain; and the 59th case is a student who visited Greece for about a month.
The nation’s 47th to 59th cases are all imported, except the 50th case, who was in Taiwan, but contracted the virus from his friends visiting him from the US, Chen said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The 54th case is a man in his 30s who visited Thailand from Feb. 28 to March 1 and Hokkaido from March 5 to 8, the center said.
He developed a runny nose on his way to Taiwan on Wednesday, and sought treatment for fatigue and a headache the next day, it said.
The 55th case is a man in his 50s who led a tour group to Egypt from March 3 to Thursday, returned to Taiwan the next day and sought treatment for fatigue, muscle pain and fever, the center said.
The 56th and 57th cases are a man in his 40s and a woman in her 70s who traveled together to Turkey via Dubai and returned to Taiwan on Friday, it said.
The man started to feel ill in Turkey and had an itchy throat, diarrhea and a fever by Friday, while the woman developed a fever on Friday, it added.
The 58th case is a woman in her 20s who has been studying in Spain since January. She developed a mild fever on Thursday and was found to have a fever when she arrived at an airport quarantine station in Taiwan on Friday, the center said.
The 59th case is a teenage student who visited Greece with his family in January, returned to Taiwan on March 5, developed a sore throat on Thursday, and sought treatment for coughing, a runny nose and a headache on Friday, it said.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that as all five cases were confirmed only yesterday, investigations are being carried out to find people they had been in contact with, who would be put under home isolation and testing.
Ministry of Education K-12 Education Administration Director-General Peng Fu-yuan (彭富源) said that classes at the high school attended by the 59th case would be suspended for 14 days.
Information about his close contacts and attendance records would be investigated and submitted to the CECC, while the school would disinfect the campus, he said, adding that extra disease prevention resources, including masks, would be supplied to the school.
Five of the new cases were confirmed shortly after their return to Taiwan and their contact investigation would be prompt, Chen said, but added that the 59th case has been in Taiwan for a while and has attended school, so the CECC is concerned that the case might have caused community transmission.
The center also raised its travel notice for Egypt to a level 2 “alert,” urging people to practice enhanced precautions.
In light of the imported cases, “the CECC must again urge people to avoid all unnecessary travel abroad, because the risk is high, and it does harm if people bring the virus back to Taiwan,” Chen said.
The CECC would proactively screen people in Taiwan who had been to Europe within the previous 14 days and have COVID-19 symptoms, he said.
The announcement came after the center on Saturday said that starting tomorrow, people arriving from 27 European countries it has designated with a level 3 “warning” travel notice would be quarantined at home for 14 days.
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS