The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday confirmed that a fifth person in Taiwan is infected with a COVID-19 variant first detected in the UK.
A British man in his 30s, who arrived on Wednesday last week to work, tested positive for the disease on Saturday while in quarantine at a government center, the CECC said.
Genome sequencing concluded that he was infected with the new variant, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, told a news conference in Taipei.
Of the five people who have been infected with the variant in Taiwan, only one — a British man in his 70s — has been classified as a severe case, while the others have only mild symptoms, Chuang said.
The variant is believed to be more infectious than previous strains of COVID-19, although there is no evidence so far that it causes more severe symptoms.
To prevent the variant from spreading, as of Dec. 23, arrivals from the UK, as well as travelers who have visited the country in the two weeks prior to coming to Taiwan, are required to go into quarantine at government-designated centers.
They are tested for COVID-19 on their first day of quarantine as well as prior to finishing their quarantine period, the CECC said.
The CECC also tested all people with a UK travel history who entered Taiwan from Dec. 13 to Dec. 22 at the end of their quarantine period, with four exceptions, Chuang said.
Of the 212 tested, 210 tested negative for the disease, while two other tests are still being processed, Chuang said.
Four exceptions were a Taiwanese woman in her 30s who had already tested positive for COVID-19 in April after a previous visit to the UK, as well as three others who were tested earlier during their quarantine because they had symptoms and were confirmed to have COVID-19 late last month.
Meanwhile, the center yesterday reported three new imported cases of COVID-19: one each from the US, the Philippines and Indonesia.
To date, the nation has recorded 822 cases of COVID-19, with 727 classified as imported.
Of the total, 708 have recovered, seven have died and 107 are hospitalized, CECC data showed.
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