The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced two imported cases of COVID-19 in arrivals from the Philippines and the US.
Each provided a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result before boarding a flight to Taiwan and neither showed COVID-19 symptoms, the center said.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesperson, said that one of the cases is a Filipino in his 30s who arrived for work on Dec. 14.
Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
The man stayed at a centralized quarantine facility after arrival and tested positive in a mandatory test before his quarantine ended on Sunday, Chuang said.
The other case is an Indian man in his 30s who lived in the US and was recruited to work in Taiwan, Chuang said, adding that he traveled to Taiwan with three family members on Dec. 13.
The family stayed at a quarantine hotel and the man underwent a paid test at a hospital on Monday that was arranged by his company, Chuang said.
The test result returned positive yesterday, he said, adding that 15 close contacts have been identified, including four people who were ordered into home isolation.
A total of 795 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Taiwan, with 127 people currently hospitalized, he said.
Meanwhile, case No. 790, reported on Monday — a Briton in his 20s who tested positive for COVID-19 on Aug. 29, but tested negative four times between Dec. 9 and Monday last week — underwent total antibody testing, which returned positive.
“He [No. 790] tested negative for Immunoglobulin M [IgM] and positive for IgG,” Chuang said.
Coupled with a cycle threshold value of 34 from a PCR test, the positive result on Monday is probably a result of his infection in August, rather than a new infection, Chuang said.
Detection of IgM indicates a more recent infection, while IgG is an indicator of previous infections, as they remain in the blood for longer, he said.
Regarding another case reported on Monday — No. 792, a Taiwanese teenager who reported a fever during a flight from the UK — Chuang said that the teen’s temperature was normal in two measurements before boarding.
The teenager told authorities that he did not take antipyretics before boarding, so symptoms from an infection contracted in the UK might have developed during the flight, Chuang said.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS