From Tuesday, people arriving from South Korea would have to wait for their COVID-19 test results at the airport before proceeding to quarantine or treatment facilities, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said the COVID-19 situation in South Korea remains serious, with daily case numbers among the highest in the world.
Travelers from South Korea would from midnight on Tuesday have to take a rapid test upon arrival and wait for the result before proceeding to a centralized quarantine facility or an enhanced disease prevention hotel, depending on their infection status, Chuang said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Tests would be administered before travelers clear customs, he added.
The procedure would be the same as requested from travelers from the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand, Australia, India and Southeast Asia, he said.
Taiwan yesterday reported six local and 120 imported cases, the highest daily imported case count since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.
Among them were 64 travelers who tested positive at airports on Friday, including 26 from Myanmar, 14 from Indonesia and 12 from Vietnam, CECC data showed.
Three local cases were reported in Taoyuan, two in Chiayi County and one in Chiayi City, Chuang said.
Two Taoyuan cases — women in their 20s — are aircraft cabin cleaning personnel of a Taiwan-based airline working at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, he said.
They experienced throat discomfort on Tuesday and Wednesday, and tested positive in regular tests for airport workers, Chuang said.
Their respective cycle threshold (Ct) values were 28 and 26.3, Chuang said, adding that the sources of their infections are unknown, and contact tracing and genome sequencing are under way, Chuang said.
The other Taoyuan case — an unvaccinated woman in her 40s — sought treatment at a hospital for an unrelated illness on Wednesday, he said.
She tested positive upon admission, Chuang said, adding that her Ct value was 34, and two subsequent test results were negative.
The CECC believes she did not recently contract the virus, as all other members of her family of six tested negative, and she tested negative for the nucleocapsid protein of SARS-CoV-2, but positive for its spike protein, he said.
The three Chiayi cases on Sunday last week attended a wedding banquet together with another case reported on Friday, Chuang said, adding that their respective Ct values were 13, 14 and 21.
The other 196 people who attended the wedding have been asked to isolate at home and the CECC would arrange tests for them, he said.
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