Taiwan yesterday reported eight domestic COVID-19 cases, but the sources of two cases have yet to be determined, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said.
Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), said that six of the eight local cases tested positive after being placed under isolation, while the remaining two were reported in New Taipei City.
Three of the cases are family members in Miaoli County, who are related to a case in Kaohsiung, a quarry worker who returned to Miaoli for a family reunion during the Lunar New Year holidays, Chen said, adding that so far 22 people from the family have tested positive.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Four of the cases are linked to a cluster associated with a religious gathering in Taipei on Sunday last week at which a meal was eaten, he said.
Chen designated the cluster high-risk, so that local governments could arrange for people who are identified as close contacts to isolate in centralized quarantine facilities, paid for by the government.
The other new case is a nurse who works at an enhanced disease prevention hotel that accommodates confirmed COVID-19 cases with mild or no symptoms, Chen said, adding that 13 of her colleagues have tested negative, and so far the infection source is unknown.
The other case causing concern involves a man in his 50s who returned from China on Jan. 18 and tested negative several times in the 21 days following his arrival in Taiwan, he said.
The case was temporarily listed among the 65 imported cases reported yesterday until more information is gathered, Chen said.
The case, a Taiwanese, tested positive while preparing to travel abroad, and contact tracing is being conducted to clarify whether he could have contracted the virus while at a quarantine hotel, Chen said.
As for a small cluster of previously announced cases with an unknown infection source — a Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport police officer and two members of his family, Chen said that genome sequencing results showed he was infected with the same strain of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 as an imported case from Indonesia who tested positive with a high viral load upon arriving at the airport on Thursday last week.
However, although airport police were working in the area where inbound travelers were tested, the officer did not have direct contact with the imported case, Chen said.
As of Friday, the nation’s first-dose vaccination rate was 82.57 percent, the full vaccination rate was 76.16 percent and the booster dose vaccination rate was 35.44 percent, the CECC said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
PROMOTION: Travelers who want a free stopover must book their flights with designated travel agents, such as Lion Travel, Holiday Tours, Cola Tour and Life Tours Air Canada yesterday said it is offering Taiwanese travelers who are headed to North America free stopovers if they transit though airports in Japan and South Korea. The promotion was launched in response to a potential rise in demand for flights to North America in June and July next year, when the US, Canada and Mexico are scheduled to jointly host the FIFA World Cup, Air Canada said. Air Canada offers services to 13 of the 16 host cities of the tournament’s soccer games, including Toronto and Vancouver; Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey in Mexico; Atlanta, Georgia; Boston; Dallas; Houston;
RSS