The navy ordered one of its warships to return to base and everyone on board tested for COVID-19, after several crew members tested positive in rapid antigen tests, it said yesterday.
The navy did not say how many people were on board the Knox-class frigate, which returned to Kaohsiung yesterday, nor how many had tested positive for COVID-19, saying only that everyone aboard the ROCS Fong Yang had been ordered to take rapid tests.
Those who tested positive have been ordered to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, Navy Command said in a statement.
The navy’s warship deployment had been adjusted to ensure that the absence of the frigate, which has a maximum capacity of 250 crew members, would not affect the navy’s overall combat readiness, it said.
The navy issued the statement after the Chinese-language United Daily News reported that the warship had docked at a base in Kaohsiung early yesterday and everyone aboard had disembarked for further COVID-19 testing.
Pan Chao-ying (潘炤穎), a senior technical specialist at the Kaohsiung Department of Health, told a news conference yesterday that since the Fong Yang docked, 97 crew members had taken COVID-19 PCR tests at a military hospital.
Those who test positive will be quarantined, he added.
Earlier this month, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said that more than 1,000 military personnel had tested positive for COVID-19, and fewer than 100 of them had been hospitalized.
Most of those who were infected had mild or no symptoms and were in home quarantine, Chiu said at the time.
There are about 180,000 service members in the armed forces.
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