A new COVID-19 case related to the navy’s “Friendship Flotilla” was reported by the Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday, bringing the cluster infection to 29 cases.
The patient is a man in his 20s who had been on the Panshih — one of three vessels that made up the flotilla, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said at the center’s daily briefing in Taipei.
The flotilla returned to Taiwan on April 9 after visiting Palau from March 12 to 15. Crew members disembarked on Wednesday last week.
Photo: CNA
The patient on Saturday last week entered a quarantine facility and initially tested negative for COVID-19, said Chen, who heads the center.
He began experiencing symptoms on Sunday, including a sore throat and cough, and yesterday was confirmed as having the novel coronavirus after being tested for a second time on Tuesday, he said.
Twenty-nine people on the Panshih had tested positive for COVID-19 as of the time of the briefing, he said, adding that the center had identified 1,237 people who had been in contact with the confirmed cases.
Photo: CNA
In a statement later yesterday, the center said that it was gathering polymerase chain reaction and antibody test results, as well as analyzing the onset and course of symptoms in confirmed COVID-19 cases, and cases who tested positive for antibodies, to understand the time line and origin of the infections on the ship.
The nation as of yesterday had recorded 427 cases of COVID-19, including six deaths.
Meanwhile, the center said that it was extending two air travel policies — one restricting flights between Taiwan and China, and the other banning flight transfers.
The former was to expire on Wednesday next week, while the latter was due to end the following day, the center said.
When the measures would be lifted would depend on the global COVID-19 pandemic, it said.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications on Feb. 10 temporarily banned passenger flights between Taiwan and China with the exception of those to and from five Chinese airports: Beijing Capital International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.
In related news, Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳), convener of the center’s expert advisory panel, provided an update on the nation’s testing regime.
To protect healthcare workers, as well as their patients, many of whom are elderly or have weak immune systems, the center on Feb. 27 began testing all healthcare workers showing symptoms of pneumonia, Chang said.
Late last month, the center expanded the criteria to all healthcare workers with a fever or any respiratory symptom, he said.
From March 30 to Wednesday last week, the center had tested 1,852 healthcare workers, all of whom tested negative for the coronavirus, he added.
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