The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the first local COVID-19 infection this month, along with three imported cases and one death.
The sole local case, a one-year-old girl in Taipei, tested positive when she was taken to see a doctor on Thursday, after she began experiencing a fever and diarrhea two days earlier, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, told a news conference.
The results showed a cycle threshold value of 38, meaning that the viral load was low and the infection was likely not recent, he said.
Photo courtesy of the CECC
While four people listed as her close contacts have been placed in quarantine, none of her family members have tested positive for COVID-19, he added.
Before yesterday’s new local case, Taiwan had not reported any domestically transmitted cases for nine consecutive days.
The three imported cases involved two people who traveled from the US and one who arrived from Myanmar, the CECC said.
The person who died was a woman in her 70s who was hospitalized in isolation on May 31 after a positive COVID-19 test, the CECC said.
She was diabetic and was transferred to another medical facility for other treatments at the end of August when her COVID-19 symptoms resurfaced, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is the deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
She was in isolation again until Sept. 17 after tests showed she was not infectious, but she remained hospitalized for her other health issues before she died on Monday due to pneumonia and respiratory failure, Lo said.
Meanwhile, an eighth batch of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines purchased from the US vaccine maker arrived in Taiwan early yesterday, comprising 1.13 million doses.
The batch is to be directed to people who received their first dose of a Moderna vaccine prior to July 16 and need to obtain a second shot to be fully vaccinated, the CECC said on Friday, without revealing how many of those people have yet to receive a second inoculation.
Second-dose shots for those people will be administered starting on Oct. 22, it added.
CECC data as of yesterday showed that approximately 3.45 million people in Taiwan had received their first Moderna shot, including 2.6 million people who received their first shot before mid-July.
As of yesterday, only 1.37 million had been vaccinated with two doses, showing that the country does not have enough vaccines to give a second shot to people vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine.
The WHO has recommended that the two Moderna vaccine doses be given 28 days apart, and the time between the two shots can be delayed by up to 12 weeks if necessary.
The vaccine shipment that arrived yesterday brings the total number of Moderna shots Taiwan has taken delivery of to roughly 6.24 million, of which 3.71 million are part of a 5.05 million-dose order Taiwan placed with the US firm, while 2.53 million were provided by the US and the Czech Republic governments as donations.
Meanwhile, a second batch of AstraZeneca vaccines donated by Lithuania, totaling 235,900 doses, arrived in Taipei yesterday.
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