The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported five imported cases of COVID-19 from India, Indonesia and the Philippines, bringing the nation’s total number of confirmed cases to 563.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is also the CECC spokesman, said the five cases are all foreign nationals who came to Taiwan for work.
Case No. 560 is a man in his 30s from India, who tested negative on Oct. 12 and Oct. 14, before coming to Taiwan with a colleague the next day, Chuang said, adding that they do not any symptoms, but were asked by their company to get tested for COVID-19 on Saturday.
The man’s test result came back positive yesterday, while his colleague tested negative, but has been placed under home isolation, Chuang said.
Case No. 561 is an Indonesian in her 30s, who arrived in Taiwan on Oct. 18 without symptoms, but she was tested on Saturday after completing quarantine, and her test result came back positive yesterday, he said.
Case No. 562 is another Indonesian in her 30s, who arrived in Taiwan on Oct. 10, Chuang said, adding that she did not have any symptoms and tested negative on Oct. 23, just before ending quarantine.
While the woman was performing self-health management at the recruitment agency’s dormitory, she was asked by her employer to be tested again on Friday, and the result came back positive yesterday, he said.
Two people who stayed in the same dormitory room as she did have been placed under home isolation, he added.
Case No. 563 is an Indonesian in his 20s, who came to Taiwan with case No. 558 and another worker on Oct. 14, Chuang said, adding that although the man tested negative after quarantine, he and the other worker were coughing and had a sore throat on Friday, so they were hospitalized for further testing.
The man’s test came back positive yesterday, while the other worker again tested negative, and their recruitment agent also tested negative, he said.
Case No. 564 is a Filipino in her 20s, who came to Taiwan on Oct. 19 and had tested negative within three days before arrival, Chuang said, adding that while she did not have any symptoms, the test she took on Sunday came back positive yesterday.
As of yesterday, excluding case No. 530, which was a mistaken case, there were 563 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Taiwan, he said.
There have been seven deaths, while 519 people have been released from isolation and 37 remain isolated in hospital, he added.
When asked if the quarantine policy for migrant workers might be modified, Chuang said that the current policy is that all travelers from the Philippines must be quarantined at centralized quarantine facilities and be tested when their quarantine ends.
All social welfare migrant workers from any country are also required to be quarantined at centralized quarantine facilities, he added.
About 80 percent of the Indonesian migrant workers who came to Taiwan in the past two months were social welfare workers, but as the COVID-19 situation is getting worse in Indonesia, the CECC is considering arranging for all workers from the nation to be quarantined at centralized facilities and tested after quarantine, he said.
The CECC plans to publicize an autumn-winter COVID-19 prevention program in the middle of this month, the details of which would mainly be based on whether locally transmitted infections have been detected, Chuang said.
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