The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 11 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, including 10 linked to the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport cluster, and 49 imported cases.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said two of the new local infections are janitors at Taoyuan airport.
The two tested negative in a first round of expanded testing, but both later experienced symptoms and were confirmed positive yesterday, he said.
Photo: CNA
Two other local infections are family members of a previously confirmed case, another airport janitor, Chen said, adding that they also tested negative when first tested, but developed symptoms during home isolation.
A suspected cluster of six new cases is likely linked to the airport cluster.
The first case in the suspected cluster is a child — case No. 17,416 — who was taken to a hospital emergency room with a fever, where he tested negative using a rapid test, but tested positive after a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was administered during treatment, Chen said.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
The boy’s mother and uncle, who lives with them, tested positive, as well as a live-in care aide — case No. 17,472 — who took care of the boy’s uncle, he said.
Two other cases in the suspected cluster are two workers who handle baggage carts at Taoyuan airport, Chen said, adding that one of them — case No. 17,473 — is case No. 17,472’s husband.
They tested positive in the airport’s expanded testing program, he said.
Chen said the virus could have been transmitted to the care aide, and she transmitted the virus to the uncle, who gave it to his family members, but more contact tracing and genome sequencing data are needed.
Another likely separate case is a disease prevention taxi driver who works in Taipei, Chen said.
He tested positive for the nucleocapsids and spike proteins in a SARS-CoV-2 antibody test, Chen said, adding that his cycle threshold value was 30.
The case is likely to be a prior infection, but contact tracing continues, he said.
Regarding the Taoyuan airport cluster, CECC specialist advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said that so far there are two clear transmission chains, while other links have yet to be determined.
He said one of them is a disease prevention taxi driver (case No. 17,240) whose viral genome sequence is almost the same as that from an imported case from the US, who took his taxi on Dec. 26 last year.
Chang said another chain likely started with a janitor (case No. 17,307), whose onset of symptoms on Dec. 27 was the earliest among all cases linked to the airport.
Case No. 17,307 cleans the restrooms at the baggage claim area, where an imported case from the US had been on Dec. 24, he said.
She works near case No. 17,238, a janitor, and took the same employee shuttle bus as case No. 17,308, another janitor, of whom two family members tested positive yesterday, Chang said.
Case No. 17,238 took the same employee shuttle bus as four other infected janitors, including case No. 17,239, who had visited the Golden Voice Social Club in Taoyuan, where two members of the club and a family member of theirs also tested positive, he said.
Although the viral genome sequence from case No. 17,307 is unclear, the sequences of the other janitors — excluding the two reported yesterday — and the members of the Golden Voice Social Club and their family member, were the same as the imported case who visited the restroom on Dec. 24, Chang said.
The links between a few other cases associated with the airport cluster have yet to be determined, he added.
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
LONG-HELD POSITION: Washington has repeatedly and clearly reiterated its support for Taiwan and its long-term policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said that Taiwan should not be concerned about being used as a bargaining chip in the ongoing US-China trade talks. “I don’t think you’re going to see some trade deal where, if what people are worried about is, we’re going to get some trade deal or we’re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan,” Rubio told reporters aboard his airplane traveling between Israel and Qatar en route to Asia. “No one is contemplating that,” Reuters quoted Rubio as saying. A US Treasury spokesman yesterday told reporters
RSS