Taiwan on Wednesday reported one new domestic COVID-19 case involving a cleaner who works at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The new case is the fifth reported this week linked to the airport, all of whom are breakthrough cases of COVID-19.

The other four cases involved three cleaners at the airport and a taxi driver tasked with taking passengers to and from quarantine facilities.

The four infected cleaners work in different sections of the airport but three of them regularly take the same shuttle bus to work while the fourth also took the shuttle from Dec. 25 to Jan. 4, according to the CECC.

Their assigned seats were all on the right-hand side of the bus, with three sitting in the back and one sitting in the front, Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (???) said at a press briefing.

One of the cleaners has been confirmed by the CECC as having been infected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The taxi driver has also been confirmed as an Omicron case, as has a passenger he picked up on Dec. 26. The passenger had tested positive for COVID-19 upon entry, CECC official Lo Yi-chun (???) said.

Once genome sequencing is completed for the taxi driver, the CECC will compare it with genome sequencing for the four cleaners and the one passenger to determine whether the infections are linked, Lo said.

Family members and those living with the five confirmed cases have all tested negative for the disease. The CECC is also testing all cleaners working at the airport and taxi drivers who transport airport arrivals.

In response to the infections, taxi drivers who transport people heading to and from quarantine will now be equipped with medical gowns, on top of the masks, goggles, and gloves they are already provided with, Lo said.

In addition to the domestic case, Taiwan also reported 25 new imported cases on Wednesday, 21 of which are breakthrough infections.

To date, Taiwan has confirmed 17,155 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, of which 14,444 are domestic infections reported since May 15, 2021, when the country first recorded more than 100 cases in a single day.

Daily domestic case numbers have fallen to mostly single digits or zero, however, since Aug. 15. Taiwan has recorded five domestic cases in January so far.

With no deaths reported Wednesday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the country remains at 850. Taiwan last reported a death related to COVID-19 on Dec. 19.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel