The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported a new imported case of COVID-19, a Taiwanese man who returned from the Philippines, as the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s ethics department sought to clarify why a local health bureau conducted coronavirus testing on a teenager last week.
The man is in his 60s and works in the Philippines.
He and his wife traveled to the Philippines in January and returned home on Wednesday last week, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), the CECC’s spokesman.
Photo: CNA
The man’s wife developed a fever on Aug. 2 and sought medical treatment in the Philippines, but tested negative for COVID-19, Chuang said.
The man did not have any symptoms upon arrival in Taiwan, but he and his wife were still tested for COVID-19 at the airport, and were quarantined at a centralized quarantine center and a hospital, he said.
Their airport test results were negative, but the man began experiencing repeated fever on Friday and Saturday, so the quarantine center conducted a second test, which came back positive yesterday, making him the nation’s 486th confirmed COVID-19 case, Chuang said.
As his wife had reported experiencing a fever early this month, the airport quarantine officers had quarantined her at a hospital, where an X-ray showed that she had pneumonia, but three rounds of COVID-19 testing conducted on Thursday, Friday and Saturday all came back negative, Chuang said.
Twenty-nine people who had come into close contact with the man have been identified, including his wife and 16 passengers who sat near him during the flight, he said.
The other passengers have been placed under home isolation, while 11 crew members who were on the plane have been asked to practice self-health management, Chuang said.
Reporters asked why case No. 485, reported on Monday, was tested for COVID-19 even though he did not show any symptoms.
The patient is an asymptomatic teenager who lives in the US and who tested positive during quarantine after arriving for a family visit.
Chuang said that Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, has instructed the ministry’s Department of Civil Service Ethics to investigate the case to clarify why the teen was tested and to find whether there were others in a similar situation.
The CECC’s policy is to test all inbound travelers who show symptoms or report having had symptoms in the previous 14 days, he said.
The only exception is people arriving from the Philippines, who are tested at the airport placed under a 14-day mandatory home quarantine, Chuang said, but add that they would not be tested for COVID-19 during quarantine if they do not show symptoms.
In related news, the Port and Maritime Bureau yesterday said that foreign mariners can leave Taiwan within three days of entering if they test negative in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test conducted upon their arrival.
The policy took effect at 12pm on Monday, the bureau said.
Before the CECC approved the new policy, foreign mariners who entered at a seaport and planned to leave from an airport were first required to quarantine at a disease-prevention hotel for 14 days, bureau Deputy Director-General Chen Pin-chuan (陳賓權) said.
“We proposed the change because there had been instances in Japan and Hong Kong where foreign mariners tested positive after arriving there. Shipping companies also hoped that crewmen’s stay in Taiwan could be shortened to facilitate duty roster changes,” he said.
Chen Pin-chuan said the new policy would apply to all foreign mariners, except those from China, who work on ships registered in Taiwan or other countries as well as those delivering new sea vessels to the nation.
The mariners would be required to undergo a PCR test on the day they arrive, he added.
They would be asked to wait for the test results at a designated quarantine facility rather than a disease-prevention hotel, he said, adding they can leave Taiwan after three days if they test negative.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
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