The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported five imported cases of COVID-19, including a man who tested negative at the airport, but later tested positive during quarantine, as well as three others who tested positive after 14 days of quarantine.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is also deputy chief of the CECC’s medical response division, said that the five cases are the nation’s 536th to 540th confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Case No. 536 is a Taiwanese man in his 20s, who works in France and last departed Taiwan in August last year, Lo said.
Photo: CNA
Upon his arrival on Oct. 11, the man told quarantine officers that he had a sore throat two days earlier, so he was tested at the airport, but the result was negative, Lo said.
On Monday and Tuesday last week, the man was coughing, and had diarrhea, fatigue and difficulty breathing during quarantine, but did not report his conditions to the local health department, believing them to be due to allergies and asthma, Lo said.
However, the man was tested again on Friday last week as part of an expanded testing program, and was confirmed positive yesterday, Lo said, adding that six passengers who sat near the man on his flight to Taiwan have been placed under home isolation.
Lo said that a second test was arranged because case No. 530, a Taiwanese man returning from China’s Jiangsu Province, reported by the CECC last week, tested positive at the airport, but not in subsequent tests, nor did his close contacts, so the CECC wanted to clarify the situation.
The expanded testing program was launched to retest 31 cases, whose specimens had been placed in the same machine as No. 530, Lo said.
The two cases were not close contacts and had arrived in different airport terminals at different times, he said, adding that the CECC advisory specialist panel would later address the test results of the expanded program, with a report expected next week.
Case No. 540, confirmed yesterday, is a Russian student in her teens, who tested negative for COVID-19 in another country on Oct. 7, before she arrived in Taiwan on Oct. 9, Lo said.
The student experienced loss of smell on Friday last week and was tested on Saturday, with the result confirmed positive yesterday, Lo said, adding that she had traveled in Turkey for a few days after leaving Russia, so she could have contracted the disease in either country.
Cases No. 537 to No. 539 were all asymptomatic as of yesterday, and they include a Taiwanese man in his 40s who returned from the Philippines, a Filipino man in his 30s who came to work from the Philippines, and an Indonesian student in her teens who came from Indonesia to study in Taiwan, the CECC said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS