The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday reported seven new cases of COVID-19, all of them Taiwanese who returned from the UK and the US, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 329.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the new cases were relatively less complicated, as five were tested at an airport upon arrival, while the other two developed symptoms while they were in home quarantine and tested positive at a hospital.
The cases are four women and three men, who developed symptoms between Feb. 29 and Monday. One of them returned from the UK and six from the US between March 19 and Monday, data showed.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
Two of them are friends who traveled to the US with another friend between Feb. 6 and Monday, Chen said.
The two lost their sense of smell and taste on Monday and Tuesday last week, so they notified airport quarantine officers upon their arrival and underwent testing, he said.
Their friend is in home isolation, he added.
Chen said that of the 329 cases, 283 were imported and 46 domestic, including five deaths and 45 patients who have been discharged from hospital.
Five cases are receiving more attention, as they are domestic cases with unknown sources of infection, he said.
People who had come into contact with three of them — cases 100, 134 and 156 — tested negative, Chen said.
The 14-day incubation period for the 100th case has passed, while cases 134 and 156 are two to three days from the end of the incubation period, he said.
However, the center and local health departments are still carrying out contact investigations for two other domestic cases — 268 and 322 — he added.
Separately yesterday, National Taiwan Normal University announced that all of its classes from Monday next week to April 17 would be conducted online after a student tested positive for COVID-19.
Additional reporting by Rachel Lin
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