The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported one local and 23 imported COVID-19 cases — the highest daily number of imported cases this year.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy chief of the CECC’s medical response division, said the local case is a man in his 30s who had not been vaccinated against COVID-19.
He underwent a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on Saturday, as he wanted to accompany someone to hospital, and it came back positive yesterday with a cycle threshold (Ct) value of 34.1, Lo said.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
He tested negative in a second PCR test, and tested negative for IgM antibodies, but positive for IgG antibodies, indicating that he was likely not infected recently, Lo said.
The case is considered to have posed little risk to the local community, but 14 close contacts and others have been ordered to isolate at home or monitor their health, he said.
Meanwhile, Lo said that the 23 imported cases reported yesterday marked a record for this year.
Of the 23, 11 are from a Taiwanese group of 22 who visited Kazakhstan to attend a sports competition and returned on Friday, he said.
They tested positive in the first PCR test taken at the centralized quarantine facility, Lo said.
A new imported case of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has been identified, he said.
The case returned from the US and had received one dose of the Medigen vaccine and two doses of the Moderna vaccine, Lo said, adding that the case tested negative upon arrival on Dec. 17, but on Thursday tested positive with a Ct value of 16 while still in quarantine.
Separately yesterday, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that “change is the only constant” regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
While people had been worried that Omicron could cause another wave of infections near the Lunar New Year holiday, reports show that it is already spreading widely in many countries and overwhelming healthcare systems, which serves as a warning for Taiwan, he said.
Chen was asked whether people who chose the “7+7 (+7)” quarantine option but have been affected by delayed flights could follow a “6+8 (+7)” quarantine rule.
Bending the rules would not be accepted, Chen said, adding that while the center tries to balance disease prevention and public convenience, disease prevention remains its top priority.
Meanwhile, China reported its highest daily rise in local COVID-19 cases in 21 months, as infections more than doubled in the northwestern city of Xian, the country’s latest COVID hot spot.
The city of 13 million, which entered its fourth day of lockdown, detected 155 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms on Saturday, up from 75 a day earlier, official data showed yesterday.
That drove the daily count to 158, the highest since China managed to contain a nationwide outbreak early last year.
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), one of Taiwan’s largest carriers, suspended passenger services to Shanghai Pudong International Airport from Kaohsiung International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) from yesterday until Feb. 3.
The suspension was due to a new COVID-19 prevention regulation implemented on Friday by Pudong airport authorities, which requires all inbound passenger flights to be more thoroughly disinfected, said an official who asked not to be named.
The strict disinfection process could delay EVA Air’s return flights to Kaohsiung or Songshan airport by up to five hours, making it unlikely that they could return before the airports close at 11pm, the official said.
However, EVA Air passenger flights from Pudong to Taipei or Kaohsiung would not be affected, the official said.
Additional reporting by Reuters and CNA
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