CORONAVIRUS/Taiwan reports 24 new COVID cases, including two in potential cluster

Taiwan reported 24 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, including two in a potential cluster at a Taipei quarantine hotel, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The new cases are 19 Taiwanese and five foreign nationals, who traveled to Taiwan recently from the United States, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, France, Thailand, and Japan, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (???) said at Thursday’s CECC press briefing.

They all tested positive either upon entry or before completing the mandatory quarantine required for all arrivals.

The 24 imported cases marks the highest number of such cases recorded in a single day this year, Chen said.

Two of these cases were guests at the same quarantine hotel in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District, and the CECC is investigating whether their infections are linked to a former guest at the hotel, who tested positive on Tuesday.

The former guest is a Taiwanese man who traveled to Taiwan on Dec. 14 and opted for the “10+4” quarantine plan, which consists of spending the first 10 days of quarantine at a hotel followed by 4 days at home.

The man tested positive after feeling unwell while in quarantine at home, Taipei Deputy Mayor Huang Shan-shan (???) said at a separate press briefing.

As his test results indicated that it was a recent infection, the city started testing other guests at the hotel, with two of them testing positive on Thursday, Huang said.

These three patients are Taiwanese nationals who traveled to Taiwan from China, the United States, and Japan over the past two weeks. They did not stay in neighboring rooms during their time at the hotel, which overlapped for four days, Huang said.

Genome sequencing is underway to confirm whether the three cases are linked, and tests are being conducted on current and former guests at the hotel as well as the hotel’s employees, she said.

Guests who were staying at the hotel have been moved to either government quarantine centers or different quarantine hotels, she said.

As the three cases were all in quarantine when they tested positive, and the family members of the man who was in quarantine at home have tested negative, the cases are likely to have little effect on the community at large, according to Chen.

To date, Taiwan has confirmed 16,988 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, of which 14,436 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 since Aug. 15. Ten such cases have been reported in December so far, including seven linked to cluster infections at quarantine hotels in Taipei and Taoyuan.

With no deaths reported Thursday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the country remains at 850, with all but 12 recorded since May 15. Taiwan last reported a death related to COVID-19 on Dec. 19, according to the CECC.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel