Taiwan yesterday reported three new imported cases of COVID-19 — two Philippine nationals and a Taiwanese man who had returned from Indonesia — raising the nation’s total number of infections to 513.
One of the Filipinos was a man in his 20s who had arrived in Taiwan to work on Sept. 11, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is also the Central Epidemic Command Center’s (CECC) spokesman, told a news briefing in Taipei.
As with all travelers arriving from the Philippines, the man was tested for COVID-19 upon arrival, but the test came back negative, and he was put in a government-designated quarantine facility, Chuang said.
Photo: CNA
He was given a second COVID-19 test on Saturday after his 14-day quarantine had ended a day earlier, and that came back positive yesterday, Chuang said.
The man headed to his workplace shortly after being tested on Saturday last week, and the CECC has tracked down 39 people who came into contact with him.
The other Filipino is a man in his 40s who arrived from the Philippines on Wednesday, and upon arrival his COVID-19 test came back as “weak positive.”
Although the man had shown no symptoms since entering Taiwan, he was given a second COVID-19 test on Saturday and tested positive yesterday.
The CECC said that it had tracked down 63 people who might have come into contact with him on the airplane or at the airport on arrival and would see if they might also be infected.
The other case is a Taiwanese man who went to Indonesia in late July. He experienced fatigue, diarrhea and abdominal pain on Sept. 19 and was diagnosed with a peptic ulcer.
He returned to Taiwan on Saturday and notified airport health officials of his symptoms.
He was tested before being quarantined the same day, and the test came back positive yesterday.
He has been placed under quarantine in hospital, Chuang said.
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