The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported an imported case of COVID-19, a Taiwanese man who returned from the US and tested positive after going to work for a week.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the man, who is in his 40s, traveled to the US for work in October last year, and the center believes he had been exposed to a confirmed case there.
The man, who arrived on Jan. 8, had provided a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result from within three days of boarding a plane to Taiwan, and did not have any symptoms during home quarantine, Chen said.
Photo courtesy of Keelung City Government
The man returned to work on Monday last week, but as he planned to travel back to the US, took a paid test at a hospital on Thursday, which came back positive, Chen said.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesperson, said the cycle threshold value obtained from the man’s PCR test was 33, indicating a lower viral load.
The center asked him to take another test on Friday, which came back negative, Chuang said.
The man also took an antibody test on Friday, which came back positive for IgM and IgG antibodies, Chuang said, adding that the center believes he likely contracted the disease in the US and is in the recovery phase, meaning that he should have a low risk of transmitting the virus to others.
Nevertheless, the center identified 84 people he had contact with, including family and coworkers, and placed 29 under home isolation and 55 under self-health management, Chuang said.
In other news, Chen said that 4,350 people linked to a cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital are under home isolation, while 536 have been released.
Among 3,500 people who were put under isolation in an expanded isolation order, 3,045 people have tested negative for COVID-19, he said.
As for PCR and antibody tests for the hospital’s employees and contract workers, Chen said that all 2,469 workers have been tested, and 2,466 tested negative, while three people are awaiting their results.
Of the 706 people who received a serological antibody test in the first phase, 681 have tested negative, while the result of one person was inconclusive, necessitating additional testing, he said.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy chief of the CECC’s medical response division, said that 1,759 people are expected to undergo the antibody test today and tomorrow, and a few laboratory technicians at the CDC’s Kunyang Laboratory might process the tests over the holiday.
The center would announce the results as soon as possible, Lo said.
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