The total number of China Airlines (CAL, 中華航空) cargo pilots diagnosed with COVID-19 rose to nine yesterday, after the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said two more pilots were confirmed with the virus.
The center has not identified a link among the nine cases or a clear sign of a transmission chain among the airline’s pilots, given the tests results so far and that the nine pilots are from four different fleets, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
The sources of infection might be better understood after analyzing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antibody test results of all CAL pilots, Chen said.
Photo courtesy of China Airlines
The center has asked the airline to provide surveillance footage from the overseas hotels where the infected pilots stayed during their layovers.
Special police and healthcare experts from centralized quarantine centers would also be dispatched to the airline’s quarantine facility in Taiwan to help determine whether disease prevention measures at the facility are adequate, he said.
Before yesterday, the center had reported seven confirmed cases of COVID-19 in CAL cargo pilots in as many days, including an Indonesian pilot who tested positive in Australia.
The center had launched an expanded testing program to screen all 1,272 of CAL’s pilots.
One of the two new cases — No. 1,102 — is a Taiwanese man who flew to the US on April 6 and returned on April 9, Chen said, adding that he tested negative on April 14 after completing quarantine in Taiwan.
He flew on another trip to the US from Monday and Thursday last week.
He developed a cough and a fever on Saturday, and tested positive on Sunday with a high viral load, indicating a recent infection, he said.
Chen said the other new case — No. 1,105 — is a Taiwanese man who flew to the US on April 8 and returned on April 10.
He tested negative upon completing quarantine in Taiwan on April 15, Chen said.
He was tested again on Sunday in the expanded testing program and the result came back positive, he said.
The pilot said he lost his appetite on Monday last week, he added.
The sources of infection are being investigated, Chen said.
Although case No. 1,102 attended a public event in Taiwan on April 16, the center believes that the risk of him infecting others at the event is low, because he had tested negative on April 14, Chen said.
People with COVID-19 usually become contagious three days before symptoms begin, and as the pilot developed symptoms on Saturday, he is more likely to have been in the US or under quarantine in Taiwan when he was contagious, Chen said.
The CECC also reported two new imported cases — a Burmese man and a Chinese man who are crew members on the same ship.
Separately yesterday, reporters asked whether inbound travelers who have received the full dosage of a COVID-19 vaccine in another country would be exempt from quarantine upon arrival.
Chen said a trial program, which is in its final approval process, would soon be launched.
The center might allow a limited number of people who have been vaccinated for at least a month to apply for a reduced quarantine period of seven days, starting in the middle of next month, he said.
The vaccines would need to be complemented with a negative PCR test result obtained before arriving in Taiwan, an antibody test taken upon arrival and another negative PCR test result on the last day of quarantine, he said.
The center on April 14 announced that crew members from Taiwanese airlines who have been vaccinated for at least two weeks would be exempt from mandatory home quarantine after returning to the nation, and would only have to perform seven days of self-health management after a long-haul flight.
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