A Taoyuan General Hospital patient who died on Friday last week tested negative for COVID-19, but the cause of death has yet to be determined, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said on Wednesday.
The mystery over the death has drawn attention because of questions raised by the family, especially as the hospital was the site of a COVID-19 cluster infection that began on Jan. 12.
The CECC has not said why the patient, said to be in their 60s, was hospitalized, but Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the center’s spokesman, said they tested negative for COVID-19 when transferred on Jan. 19 from Taoyuan General Hospital following the cluster infection.
Photo: CNA
The patient also tested negative for COVID-19 on Jan. 21 and Wednesday last week, while being treated at another hospital, and was scheduled to be discharged on Wednesday, Chuang said.
Because of the family’s doubts over the cause of death, Chuang said the patient was tested for COVID-19 again following their death.
Doctors have yet to determine the cause of death, Chuang said.
Meanwhile, CECC officials said an expanded testing plan at Taoyuan General Hospital began on Wednesday to ensure that no COVID-19 cases originating at the facility go undetected.
A total of 19 people linked to the hospital have been confirmed with COVID-19 — two doctors, four nurses, one migrant caregiver, six relatives of two of the nurses, two hospital patients and three of their relatives, and a contact of one of the patients.
The expanded testing, which ends today, would cover 2,136 hospital employees and contract workers. About 500 employees at the hospital would not be tested as part of the plan, because they had already been tested or had been on leave from the hospital, the CECC said.
As of yesterday, 1,186 had received virus tests, and 919 had tested negative so far, CECC data showed.
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