The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported three local COVID-19 cases, one imported case and one death. It also said that tests conducted on the close contacts of a breakthrough infection were negative.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said none of the local cases tested positive during isolation.
The infection sources of two of the cases are unclear and one is still being investigated, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
Two of the cases were reported in New Taipei City and the other in Taipei, he said, adding that they are two men and one woman aged 30 to 70.
The deceased was a Taiwanese man in his 60s who tested positive in Vietnam on Aug. 8, Chen said.
He returned to Taiwan for treatment on a medical charter flight on Saturday and died on Monday, CECC data showed.
The imported case is a British man who reported having tested positive in the UK in June. He presented a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result obtained within three days of his arrival for work on Aug. 17.
He tested positive upon ending quarantine yesterday, CECC data showed.
Chen also provided an update about the breakthrough infection — a pilot at a Taiwanese airline who received two doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
At least 14 days had passed after he received his second dose before he tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.
Chen said all 26 close contacts of the pilot tested negative in PCR testing.
Separately, a suspected case of COVID-19 was reported in Hsinchu County’s Paoshan Township (寶山) on Monday.
The case, a woman in her 80s, tested positive for COVID-19 at a hospital following a traffic accident, prompting health officials to conduct rapid testing on nearly 200 people in the township.
As the woman’s cycle threshold (CT) value was near the level that determines a positive case, the local government asked the CECC for help in assessing her case.
Chen yesterday said the woman tested positive twice and negative twice in Hsinchu, all with high CT values.
He said the Centers for Disease Control’s Kunyang Laboratory ran tests on two specimens collected from the woman, and they both came back negative, so she is not considered a confirmed COVID-19 case.
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