The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 26 new domestic cases of COVID-19, 22 of which are linked to previously reported clusters and four whose infection source is unknown.
Sixteen cases were reported in Taoyuan, six in Taipei and four in New Taipei City, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
The 22 cases are all linked to recorded clusters and tested positive during quarantine, he added.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
Regarding the Taoyuan cases, Chen said that seven are migrant workers of Askey Computer Corp (亞旭) in the Farglory Free Trade Zone (遠雄自由貿易港區).
On Sunday, they tested negative and were released from isolation, he said, adding that they had returned to their dormitory, but not yet to work.
On Monday, 2,147 people linked to the free trade zone were retested, with all but seven returning negative, so the surrounding firms should be considered safe, but the Askey dormitory would need to be reinspected, he said.
Six of the Taoyuan cases are linked to the Re-Yi Distribution Service Co (日翊物流) cluster; they are family members of previous cases and have been isolating at home.
The six were the only people out of 262 close contacts in isolation that tested positive, Chen said, adding that all 917 people placed in preventive isolation tested negative.
The three other Taoyuan cases are linked to a cluster associated with a Chien Tu Hot Pot (錢都日式涮涮鍋) restaurant and a preschool in Bade District (八德), he said.
Of the Taipei cases, four are linked to a cluster associated with a realtor; three of the four are preschool children and the other is a family member of an infected child, Chen said.
The two other Taipei cases are linked to an Yilan hotel cluster; they were customers at a restaurant where one of the infected hotel workers was dining, he said.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said that the New Taipei City cases are a family of four — a father, mother and two daughters — who live in Banciao District (板橋).
The younger daughter, who is in her 20s, tested positive after showing symptoms, and the other family members, who have so far been asymptomatic, subsequently tested positive, Lo said.
More tests are needed to determine who in the family was infected first and how they contracted the disease, he added.
The elder daughter, who works at Deloitte & Touche Taiwan (勤業眾信), worked at the firm’s Xinyi District (信義) office from Friday to Monday before testing positive, a notice on the company’s Web site said.
Her close contacts at work are in quarantine and others who worked on the same floor are to be tested for COVID-19, the notice said.
The CECC yesterday also reported 22 imported cases: nine who tested positive upon arrival at the airport and 13 who tested positive in quarantine.
Asked about the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program’s (VICP) decision to grant COVID-19 vaccine injury compensation to three cases, CDC Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩), head of the CECC’s disease surveillance division, said that one person had itchy skin after receiving the Medigen vaccine and was awarded NT$5,000.
Another person was awarded NT$70,000 after experiencing myocarditis within 28 days of receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, as a link to the vaccine could not be eliminated, said CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman.
The next of kin of the third were awarded NT$300,000 after the person had chest pain, soreness and difficulty breathing one day after receiving the Moderna vaccine, and died of acute myocardial infarction and aortic dissection, he said.
The possibility of a link to the vaccine could not be eliminated, so the compensation was granted, he added.
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