The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 16 locally transmitted COVID-19 infections and two deaths.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that 10 of the local cases tested positive during or upon completing isolation.
The infection sources of 13 cases have been identified, while two are unclear and one remains under investigation, Chen said.
Ten cases were reported in New Taipei City, four in Taipei and two in Chiayi County, he said.
The cases in New Taipei City included a cluster of infections, which the local government quickly handled by identifying close contacts and isolating them, he said, adding that follow-up testing is still being conducted.
In addition to the two deaths, the center also reported three imported cases — arrivals from the Philippines, Malaysia and Russia.
The two cases in Chiayi County are connected with a factory cluster — nine factory workers and two family members — reported last week, Chen said, adding that the cases were two more family members.
All close contacts are being tested for COVID-19, he said.
On Saturday last week, Chiayi County set up nine community screening stations, five of which are to continue operating until Saturday, Chen said.
Yesterday, 1,604 people were screened, he added.
“The [factory cluster] situation seems stable and under control,” Chen said, adding that genome sequencing showed that the people linked to the factory cluster had contracted the Alpha variant of SARS-CoV-2, which has been circulating in the nation.
Separately yesterday, a group of swimming pool operators held a rally in front of the Centers for Disease Control building in Taipei, petitioning the CECC to allow pools to reopen.
Asked for comment, Chen said that a disease prevention plan had been submitted — proposing that young competitive swimmers be allowed to resume training — but had yet to be approved, as the proposal’s content needed to be revised.
The Ministry of Education was yesterday afternoon to submit its disease prevention plan regarding reopening swimming pools to the public, he said, adding that the center might approve the plan if it is feasible.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching