A high school in Taoyuan must suspend classes after a student tested positive for COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
The student — one of two local cases reported yesterday — was tested for COVID-19 after his father was confirmed positive, center data showed.
His father, a pilot for Eva Airways Corp (長榮航空), was tested after returning from Chicago, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, told the CECC’s daily news conference.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The father had contact with two previously confirmed cases, also pilots, on a previous flight to Australia, Chen said, adding that one of the contacts is an imported case reported on Saturday.
The CECC listed the student and the three aircrew members as cluster infections.
The aircrew cases are breakthrough infections, as the pilots are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the center said.
As the pilots and the student might be infected with the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the CECC is to implement stricter disease prevention measures in select areas, including at the school.
Chinese-language media reported that the student attends the Affiliated Tao-Yuan Agricultural and Industrial Senior High School of National Taipei University of Technology.
The student’s classmates would have to quarantine at a centralized facility for 14 days, Chen said, adding that the center has prepared about 500 rooms.
People who live in the same households with the affected students would need to quarantine until their contacts are confirmed negative, Chen said.
Students and staff who used facilities after the confirmed case would have to quarantine at home for 14 days, he said.
Chen also announced stricter measures for the whole of Taoyuan, effective until Thursday next week, but said that the city’s COVID-19 alert would remain at level 2.
Indoor gatherings would be limited to 50 people, compared with 80 in the rest of Taiwan, and outdoor gatherings to 100 people, while 300 are allowed in the rest of the nation, Chen said.
A citywide ban on visits to hospitals and care facilities would be reinstated, Chen said, adding that requests for emergency visits would be handled on a case-by-case basis.
As long as the CECC cannot identify the source of the cluster, Eva aircrew members on flights from Chicago would have to quarantine at a centralized facility for 14 days and get tested three times during that period, the center said.
Those who worked that route since Aug. 21 would also get tested, the CECC added.
Due to increasing reports of breakthrough infections, the CECC would impose tightened measures for aircrew members, originally set to come into effect on Wednesday next week, ahead of schedule, the center said.
The second local case was a woman in her 50s, CECC data showed.
The center also reported four imported cases.
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