The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday confirmed two new cases of COVID-19: a student who returned from the US and another crew member of the navy supply ship Panshih (磐石), bringing the nation’s total number of cases to 438.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the imported case (No. 437) is a woman in her 30s who had studied in the US since Jan. 30 and returned to Taiwan on April 9, without symptoms.
She was first placed under 14-day home quarantine and then under home isolation on April 11 after it was learned that she was on the same flight from New York as Case No. 383, who sat one row behind her, Chen said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The woman had developed a runny nose on April 15, but did not report it at the time because she thought it was only an allergy, he said.
She contacted the local health department on Monday last week about having a runny and stuffy nose, three days after her quarantine order had ended, he said.
Her first COVID-19 test came back as a “weak positive,” so the woman was hospitalized in a negative-pressure isolation ward and tested again on Thursday and Friday, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
A fourth test taken on Saturday came back positive yesterday, he said.
He added that she has not developed any COVID-19 symptoms, but is being isolated in the hospital.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that the woman first thought her runny nose was caused by chopping onions.
She has a background in medical education and wore a mask when she went out between April 25 and Monday last week, he said.
Chen also announced that the 14-day home isolation or quarantine period for people who had close contact with infected crew from the Panshih has ended, but they are required to perform self-health management for another seven days and report any suspected symptoms.
The Panshih, the frigate Kang Ding (康定) and guided-missile frigate Yueh Fei (岳飛) were part of a “Friendship Flotilla” that visited Palau from March 12 to 15, returned to Kaohsiung on April 9 and disembarked on April 15.
All 744 navy personnel aboard the three ships were recalled and put under 14-day centralized quarantine on April 18, after the first crew member was confirmed to have the virus.
Thirty-one people aboard the Panshih tested positive between April 18 and 25, and another four tested positive in a second testing on Sunday.
Sailors, officers and cadets from the Kang Ding and Yueh Fei crew were yesterday released from quarantine, while 345 from the Panshih had to undergo another round of tests.
The test results came back yesterday evening, with another crew member testing positive, Chuang said, adding that they have been taken to hospital and isolated.
Three crew members, who had earlier tested positive, were among those tested yesterday.
They have recovered and been discharged from hospital, Chuang said.
The 344 Panshih crew members who tested negative left the quarantine facilities last night, but would continue to perform self-health management at home for seven days, he said.
Chen said the cluster of cases on the Panshih was mainly caused by the ship’s narrow spaces and the crew’s frequent exposure to each other during the voyage.
The infection rate on the ship of about 9.5 percent — 36 cases among 377 people — is relatively low compared with aircraft carriers and cruise ships from other nations, possibly because the crew had been ordered to wear masks and those who had a fever during the voyage were isolated, the health minister told reporters.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique