The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported a new suspected cluster of infections at a quarantine hotel in Taipei, saying classes at a preschool associated with the case would be suspended for two days to prevent infection.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the suspected cluster involves two imported cases who quarantined in adjacent hotel rooms last month.
The first case — No. 17,181 — is a Taiwanese man in his 30s who returned from China and quarantined in the hotel from Dec. 12 to 26.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
He tested positive — with a cycle threshold (Ct) value of 18.1 — at a hospital on Saturday, after developing a headache and testing positive with an at-home rapid test kit, Chen said.
He tested positive while practicing self-health management at home. As he was staying with his parents, wife and three children during the period, his family members and a close contact have been placed under home isolation and tested for COVID-19, he added.
All of their test results were negative, the CECC said.
The man also took one of his children to preschool while infected, so the establishment has been ordered to suspend operations today and on Tuesday while testing and contact tracing are conducted, Chen said.
The second case — No. 16,941 — is a Taiwanese man who returned from the US and quarantined at the hotel from Dec. 19 to 21 before testing positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 22, with a Ct value of 23.8, Chen said, adding that the man stayed in room 3007, while the other man stayed in room 3006.
Preliminary genome sequencing results showed that both cases were infected with the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, he said, but added that full results had not been completed.
As the two cases are considered a possible cluster infection, hotel guests who stayed on the same floor have been moved to other locations, while those who stayed on the same floor at the same time as the two cases would be tested, Chen said, adding that hotel staff have been tested for COVID-19.
The center also updated its findings on a previous suspected cluster infection at a quarantine hotel in Taipei, involving three cases infected with the Omicron variant, reported last week.
CECC specialist advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said although there are two to four site differences in the genome sequences of the virus samples collected from the three cases, the center does not rule out that they are from the same cluster infection.
While the center considers it more likely that one of the cases, No. 17,085, infected the other two, case No. 17,085 said that their symptoms began on Wednesday, but one of the other two cases had left the hotel on Dec. 24, Chang said.
Further investigation is needed to determine if No. 17,085 was contagious five days before the onset of symptoms, or had mild symptoms that went unnoticed, he said.
As environmental surface test results at the hotel were negative, air-conditioning specialists have suggested that the hotel improve its air-conditioning system, he said.
While the infection sources of the three cases are still unclear, the center urges quarantine hotels to be cautious, Chang said.
The CECC yesterday reported 20 imported cases of COVID-19: 11 travelers from the US, two from the UK, and one each from Australia, Canada, China, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Chen said that as of Saturday, the nation’s first-dose vaccination rate had reached 80 percent and the full vaccination rate was 69.1 percent.
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