The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported one more imported case of COVID-19, an Indonesian sailor in his 40s, making him the nation’s 489th confirmed case.
The center said it also received reports about two travelers from Taiwan testing positive for the virus in Japan and Vietnam.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), head of the center, said that the man arrived on Aug. 16 and was quarantined for 14 days, but tested positive in a self-paid COVID-19 test on Monday.
He had provided a negative test report obtained within three days before boarding the plane to Taiwan, and has not exhibited any symptoms even after his results returned positive, Chen said.
He was originally scheduled to set out to sea yesterday, but is now confined in a hospital arranged by his company, Chen said.
Health authorities have identified 35 people who had close contact with the man, Chen said, adding that they have been placed under home isolation for 14 days.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is also the CECC spokesman, said that as the man tested positive in an antibody test, the likelihood that he contracted the virus in Taiwan was relatively low.
One of the travelers from Taiwan who received positive test results is a female Vietnamese migrant worker in her 30s who worked in northern Taiwan and returned home on Aug. 7, he said.
She tested negative for COVID-19 in two mandatory tests after arriving, but tested positive in a third exam on Wednesday last week, Chen said, adding that she has not shown symptoms.
The likelihood that she contracted the disease in Taiwan is low, he said, adding that four close contacts of the woman in Taiwan so far tested negative.
The other case is a Taiwanese man in his 50s who returned to Taiwan from Japan on March 19 and traveled to Japan again on Monday, Chen said, adding that local health department has identified his close contacts in Taiwan.
The CECC has also raised the infection risk level for Myanmar to medium from low risk, as the country on Aug. 16 reported its first domestic case of COVID-19 in four weeks.
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