A woman under home quarantine who was found dead in Kaohsiung’s Meinong District (美濃) on Saturday afternoon did not have COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
The woman, in her 50s, was put under home quarantine after she arrived at Kaohsiung International Airport from China on Aug. 30, Kaohsiung Department of Health Director-General Huang Chih-chung (黃志中) said.
The woman, surnamed Sung (宋), “was put under quarantine at a home in Meinong after entering Taiwan, and local village officials had checked her mental and health conditions every day, which were all fine up until Friday,” he said.
Photo: Fang Chih-hsien, Taipei Times
The woman, a healthcare professional and Taipei resident, was allowed to quarantine at her younger brother’s home, as she was able to have a separate room and bathroom, he said.
Her brother on Saturday afternoon noticed that his sister had not eaten her meal, so he went into her room to check on her condition and found her lying on the floor, officials said.
He immediately called the police, but his sister was pronounced dead at home, they said.
Police officers on Saturday said it is possible she died due to blood sugar issues, as she was taking medication for diabetes.
“From the reports we received, she was in a fairly good health condition during her 13 days in quarantine,” Huang said, adding that the woman’s brother had talked to her through the door at about 11pm on Friday and did not notice anything abnormal.
The woman “had been taking medicine for a chronic disease and had been receiving long-term treatment for it,” he said.
“However, from what we know, there was not a problem of running out of medicine,” he added.
The woman’s body was taken to a city funeral home morgue, where a forensic scientist yesterday morning collected specimens to test for COVID-19.
The CECC yesterday afternoon said the test was negative.
Authorities are still in trying to determine the cause of death.
According to local news reports, the woman’s household registration was in Taipei, where she lived with her mother, elder brother and two younger sisters, but she chose to be quarantined at her younger brother’s home after returning from a business trip to China, as the family house in Taipei did not have enough space to meet the CECC’s quarantine requirements.
Additional reporting by CNA
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