The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported a new imported case of COVID-19, a teenager who returned from the US this month, marking the 485th confirmed case in the nation.
CECC spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said the teen, who has been living in the US, returned to Taiwan to visit his family on Aug. 5, and records show his previous departure date from Taiwan was in September last year.
“As of yesterday, he has not experienced any symptoms, but he was tested for COVID-19 by a local health department on Saturday and confirmed positive yesterday,” Chuang said, adding that the teen has been isolated in a hospital for treatment.
The teenager wore a mask, protective goggles and gloves during the flight, did not experience any symptoms, and immediately went to a quarantine hotel after entering Taiwan, so the CECC did not list any contacts for self-isolation, but the center is to ask the local health department to clarify why it tested him, Chuang said.
Chuang yesterday also gave an update on the contact tracing of a 33-year-old Malaysian man who tested positive after returning to his native country from Taiwan, which the CECC reported on Saturday.
The man on Aug. 2 returned to Malaysia via Hong Kong and tested negative for COVID-19 at the airport upon his arrival, but tested positive on Friday after quarantine.
Chuang on Sunday said that the man’s Taiwanese wife told the center that he had only had close contact with five people during his stay in Taiwan since February.
Chuang yesterday said that the man on Sunday told the center that in the month prior to his departure, he mainly stayed at his home in northern Taiwan, only went out to buy meals — while wearing a mask — and did not meet with friends.
His wife’s polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antibody tests for COVID-19 both came back negative, while test results for four other close contacts have not yet come back, Chuang said.
The Malaysian government has said that the cycle threshold value of the man’s second PCR test was 37.93, which is relatively high, and in Taiwan would be considered a “weak positive,” Chuang said.
“Whether he has actually been infected is still unclear,” Chuang said, adding that the center would use the test results of the four contacts to assess the possible source of infection, but as his wife, who had the most frequent and close contact with the man, tested negative, the possibility of him having contracted the disease in Taiwan seems low.
Separately, Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday morning announced that the city has 683 people who are under a 14-day quarantine order in hotels that are not designated quarantine hotels.
She said that if the hotels do not transfer these people to designated facilities by Friday the city government would publicize the names of the establishments.
Regarding Huang’s comments, Chuang said there are about 1,000 travelers arriving every day, so given the lack of quarantine capacity at designated hotels, the CECC has discussed with the Tourism Bureau about allowing general hotels to accommodate people under quarantine.
A standard operating procedure for disinfection has been drafted and would soon be published, and the hotels would not only have to conform to the procedures, but also submit a disease prevention plan to the local government before they can accommodate quarantined people, he said.
Chuang said the basic principle for home quarantine is that the person does not leave the space after they enter, having only one person in one space and using a separate bathroom, so that quarantine spaces are not limited to designated hotels, but can also be done at home, a legally rented place or other hotels.
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
RSS