A total of 2,991 people associated with a COVID-19 cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital have been put under home isolation, after an emergency expanded isolation order was issued on Sunday evening, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
Fifteen people have so far tested positive in the cluster infection. The first case in the cluster (case No. 838) was reported on Jan. 12 — a doctor who treated an infected patient who had returned from the US.
Contact tracing for the first 13 cases found connections to case No. 838, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
Photo: Lin Kuo-hsien, Taipei Times
However, the two latest cases reported on Sunday — a man who had been hospitalized and his wife (case Nos. 889 and 890) — are a “warning” that calls for “increased vigilance,” because their infection source have not been identified yet, Chen said.
With the expanded isolation order, three categories of people who were at the hospital from Jan. 6 to Tuesday last week were immediately put under home isolation starting from 6:30pm on Sunday.
The three categories are: patients who have been discharged and people living in the same home with them; caregivers of hospitalized patients and people living with them; and people who were exposed to case No. 889 when he sought medical treatment.
Chen on Sunday evening said that more than 5,000 people linked to the hospital cluster are expected to be put in isolation.
As of noon yesterday, 2,991 people had already been put under home isolation, he said.
They comprise 422 hospital employees, 304 people in local communities who had close contact with confirmed cases and 2,265 people recalled for emergency expanded isolation on Sunday, he said.
Of the people recalled, 1,048 are patients who were discharged from the hospital and 1,217 are caregivers of hospitalized patients or family members of patients who live with them, CECC data showed.
Chen said the number of people placed under home isolation is expected to increase, as contact tracing is still being conducted.
The number of personnel at the CECC’s 1922 hotline were increased from 36 to 98 on Sunday, but response speed was still relatively slow, as the hotline received nearly 10,000 calls, he said, adding that a total of 213 hotline personnel were deployed yesterday to help answer the calls.
Asked by reporters about the emergency expanded isolation order, Chen said people who fall in the categories, but who have not received an official isolation notice should “stay at home and wait to be informed by their local health department.”
After receiving a notice, they should practice home isolation for 14 days starting from the day after they left the hospital, undergo a mandatory polymerase chain reaction test upon ending isolation and continue with an additional seven days of self-health management, he said.
People who sought treatment at the hospital’s outpatient or emergency departments after Jan. 6 are required to practice 14 days of self-health management starting from the day after they sought treatment, Chen said.
The National Health Insurance cards of those people have been temporarily flagged so that doctors at other healthcare facilities would know about their exposure to the Taoyuan hospital if they seek medical attention elsewhere, he added.
Chen said people under self-health management should take their temperature daily in the morning and evening, frequently wash their hands, wear a mask at all times when going outdoors, and refrain from taking public transportation or going to public places where they cannot practice social distancing.
People under isolation, quarantine or self-health management linked to the hospital cluster are encouraged to consult with emergency doctors through the CECC’s mobile app launched on Sunday if they feel discomfort, he said.
The center plans to discuss with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications whether to tighten regulations on high-speed rail trains during the Lunar New Year holiday, he said.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS