The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported five imported cases of COVID-19, including a case who returned to Taiwan in August, but tested positive on Tuesday.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), the CECC’s spokesman, said the five cases are four men and one woman, aged between 20 and 50.
They arrived from India, Indonesia and Lithuania from Aug. 20 to Monday, Chuang said.
Photo: CNA
Three of the imported cases are vaccine breakthrough infections, said CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
One of the breakthrough cases is a Taiwanese woman who returned from India on Aug. 20, but tested positive in a self-paid test on Tuesday, he said.
She stayed in India between February and August, and quarantined in a centralized facility, Lo said, adding that she tested negative on Aug. 21 and upon ending quarantine on Sept. 2.
He said a family member living with the woman, who had returned from India on Aug. 13, tested positive in a self-paid test on Sept. 6, so the woman was placed under home isolation again and tested negative on Sept. 7 and Sept. 18.
The woman was preparing to leave the country, so she took a self-paid test on Tuesday, which came back positive with a high cycle threshold value of 35, indicating a low viral load, Lo said, adding that she tested negative yesterday.
She tested positive for antibodies against the nucleocapsid protein and the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, but tested negative for IgM and IgG, meaning that she was likely to have had a previous infection, he said.
Two of the woman’s family members tested negative for COVID-19, but positive for COVID-19 antibodies, so the three are likely to have contracted the disease in India and recovered, supposedly posing very little risk to the local community, he added.
A Taipei branch of Taiwan’s largest gym chain yesterday announced that it would be temporarily closed yesterday afternoon and today in cooperation with the Taipei Department of Health’s disease prevention regulations.
Asked whether the closure was associated with the imported case, Lo said that as the case tested positive after being released from quarantine, she must have visited locations in the community.
Meanwhile, the first phase of bookings for rooms in a centralized quarantine facility, for people arriving in Taiwan between Dec. 14 and Feb. 14, began at 10am yesterday.
Chuang said that 583 rooms had been booked as of 1pm.
Only fully vaccinated people who choose the “7+7 (+7)” quarantine option can book a room in a centralized quarantine facility during this period, he said, adding that they can only stay at the facility for seven days, for NT$1,500 per day.
Once travelers have booked and paid for a room online, they cannot change the dates or ask for a refund, Chuang said.
The only exception would bepeople who booked a room for NT$2,000 per day in a centralized quarantine facility for 14 days between Dec. 14 and Dec. 31 through a previous program, he said.
They would be allowed to change their stay to seven days and ask for a refund, he said.
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