All close contacts tested so far of Taiwan’s first domestic COVID-19 case in over a month have been confirmed as negative, with results still pending for the remaining contacts, city officials from Taipei and New Taipei announced Friday.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Huang Shan-shan (???) said at a press conference that 94 Taipei-based contacts of the domestic case, who was confirmed as having COVID-19 Thursday, had been placed in home quarantine and taken polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.
The results for 80 of those contacts came back negative for the disease, with officials still waiting on results for the remaining 14.
Meanwhile, New Taipei has also placed 44 contacts of the domestic COVID-19 patient in quarantine and had them take PCR tests, New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih (???) announced at a separate press conference.
So far, 43 have been confirmed as negative, with Hou saying results for the remaining case would be released Friday afternoon.
The New Taipei mayor said the condition of the remaining individual appeared stable.
On Thursday, Taiwan reported its first domestically transmitted COVID-19 case in more than a month.
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said the case, a woman in her 20s who worked until early December in a laboratory at the Genomics Research Center at Academia Sinica, had likely been infected with the Delta variant at her workplace in Taipei’s Nangang District.
The woman traveled around Taipei and New Taipei before the positive test result was returned, the CECC said.
The case has renewed concerns over domestic COVID-19 cases in Taiwan, following an outbreak of domestically transmitted cases in mid-May brought that was subsequently brought under control.
The CECC said Thursday that the patient took the MRT between Nangang and Dongmen stations on Nov. 27 and Dec. 4, as well as between Nangang Station and Taipei Main Station on Nov. 28, and between Nangang and Guting stations Dec. 5.
The case also dined in a steak house and several other restaurants, in addition to visiting the Q Square shopping mall, a 7-Eleven store, a Cosmed outlet, and Watson’s stores in Taipei and New Taipei between Nov. 27 and Dec. 8.
Adding to the CECC’s disclosures regarding the woman’s movements, Huang said in the news conference that the domestic case also took Bus No. 306 from 3:39 pm to 3:50 p.m. on Dec. 7 traveling from Academia Sinica and the Nangang District Office.
The woman then took Bus Blue 21 from 4:03 p.m. to 4:19 p.m., also on Dec. 7, traveling from the Nangang District Office to Zhungxin Road of New Taipei, with Huang urging those who may have been passengers on the two buses to stay alert.
Huang said Taipei City Government had informed the operators of the venues the woman visited during the period of infection to conduct disinfection.
Apart from the 94 contacts placed in home quarantine in Taipei, Huang said a total of 328 working in the same building at Academia Sinica as the case had been ordered to undergo self-health management.
The 328 comprised 303 working in the institute’s Genomics Research Center and 15 working in other labs, Huang added.
Two of the 328, who displayed symptoms of COVID-19, have taken PCR tests, with the results still pending.
Whether the remaining people Academia Sinica’s building will take tests would depend on how the infection situation evolved, Huang said.
She added that a testing bus had been stationed at Academia Sinica from Friday to provide tests to the institution’s employees who have concerns about their health.
Another testing bus has been stationed in front of the institute to provide tests to the public.
According to Huang, the new domestic case had been fully vaccinated with two doses of the Moderna vaccine, which she received on June 28 and July 27, adding that the woman had no recent history of traveling abroad.
The woman said she had been bitten by a COVID-19-infected lab mouse on Oct. 15 and tested negative that same day after taking a rapid test. On Nov. 19, she was bitten by another infected mouse but took no test.
The woman began to display symptoms, including coughing on Nov. 26, and sneezing, rhinorrhoea, and an abnormal sense of taste on Dec. 4.
She then took a PCR on Dec. 9, which came back positive with a cycle threshold (CT) value of 15.17, indicating she was highly infectious, Huang said.
The woman has since been admitted into the Heping branch of Taipei City Hospital for treatment, Huang added.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (???) said in a Friday news conference that since there had not been any confirmed cases of a COVID-19 virus spreading from an animal to humans since the pandemic began, the new domestic case may have become infected due to a “lab leak.”
Ko said that if Taipei reported cases over the next two to three days where the source of infection could not be traced the city could suspend the year-end countdown party and even February’s lantern festival.
In New Taipei, Hou said if necessary, his city could downsize the ongoing Christmas festival taking place Dec. 3 -Jan. 1, calling on the public to follow virus preventative rules such as not allowing food in the venue and making the wearing of face masks mandatory.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel