Three residents of a care home for the elderly in Taipei have died of COVID-19 amid an outbreak that has infected 126 people at the care center, the Taipei Department of Social Welfare said yesterday.
The virus has infected 49 employees and 77 residents, including the three deceased, at Haoran Senior Citizens’ Home in Beitou District (北投), the department said.
Seven residents have been hospitalized, while 67 remain at Haoran and are being closely monitored virtually by doctors at Taipei City Hospital’s Yangming Branch, it added.
Tung Fu-chuang (童富泉), who heads the care home, told the Central News Agency that the initial case was an employee who was confirmed to have COVID-19 on April 23 and the first resident tested positive on May 1.
As the virus began to spread at the care home, Tung said those who needed immediate medical attention were sent to hospital for treatment, while mild or asymptomatic cases were diagnosed virtually by doctors and prescibed medication.
There are 335 residents at the care home, Tung said, adding that they have been divided into three separate areas to prevent the risk of further cross-infection.
One of the areas, coded red, is reserved for confirmed cases, he said, while the “yellow” area is for those who could likely later test positive and “green” is the safe zone, Tung said.
Tung said the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Taipei disease control center has allowed 23 employees with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms to return to work.
“Our employees are extremely hard-working, especially in such difficult times, and insisted on returning to their posts, because they are concerned about the welfare of the people they care for,” Tung added.
A total of 4,407 cases have been confirmed at 595 long-term care facilities nationwide so far this year, said Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞), deputy head of the Central Epidemic Command Center’s medical response division, adding that 2,881 of them are residents and 1,526 are employees.
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