Thu, Mar 19, 2020 page1

• Virus Outbreak: Twenty-three new cases bring total to 100

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday announced 23 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, raising the total number to 100 in Taiwan.

  Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that two of the cases were locally transmitted, while 21 were likely imported.

  One of the locally transmitted cases was a man in his 20s who is the son of a member of a tour group that visited Egypt from March 3 to Thursday last week, Chen said, adding that three members of the tour group have tested positive.

  

  Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung reports on the COVID-19 pandemic at the Central Epidemic Command Center in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: CNA

  Another cluster of cases is a tour group of 15 people who visited Turkey from March 4 to Friday last week, with nine members having tested positive as of Tuesday and another four members testing positive yesterday, Chen said.

  The 21 cases that were likely imported include three people who had traveled in Spain and the US; two people who traveled in the UK and France; a person who traveled in Indonesia, Qatar, the Philippines, Switzerland and Germany; a person who traveled in France, Spain and the UK; and a person who traveled in the UK, Italy and France.

  Eleven of the people had symptoms that were detected at airport quarantine stations upon their return to Taiwan, Chen said.

  The center is most concerned about three people who stayed in Taiwan for a longer period of time, meaning that they might have caused community spread, he said.

  Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that one of the three cases is a Frenchman in his 20s who arrived in Taipei on Thursday last week and sought treatment for a fever on Monday.

  Another case is a Taiwanese woman in her 20s who visited Bali, Indonesia, with her husband from March 6 to Thursday last week, experienced a sore throat and mild coughing on Tuesday last week and sought treatment on Monday, he said.

  Chen said that the most concerning case of all is a woman in her 20s living in southern Taiwan who has not traveled abroad recently and leads a relatively simple life, but began experiencing symptoms on Thursday last week and tested positive yesterday.

  The case requires a thorough investigation into the source of the infection and the people with whom the woman came into close contact, Chen added.

  The woman sought treatment at a clinic for a fever, a sore throat and coughing on Thursday last week and on Monday, and sought treatment for the fever the next day at an emergency room, where the doctor arranged for her to be tested, center advisory specialist panel convener Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said.

  “A peak in the number of confirmed cases is expected to occur in the upcoming days, so we announced enhanced border control measures this morning,” Chen said. “Airport quarantine officers might be under extreme pressure over the next few days, but we hope to hold out and overcome this peak period.”

  The next two weeks are the most critical for containing the spread of COVID-19, so the center urges everyone to keep a safe social distance and maintain good personal hygiene, while those who are placed under quarantine or in home isolation need to cooperate, Chen said.

  Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥) said that many of the policies that the center has recently announced — including advising people to avoid unnecessary overseas travel and extending foreign workers’ visas — are meant to reduce the flow of people so that the risk of transmission is lowered.
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