Taiwan reports 1 new case of COVID-19

ROC Central News Agency

04/22/2020 05:44 PM

Taipei, April 22 (CNA) Taiwan confirmed one new case of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections in Taiwan to 426 since the pandemic began late last year, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The latest case was the 28th resulting from a cluster infection on the "Panshi" fast combat support ship that was part of a three-ship flotilla that visited Palau in mid-March, said Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who also heads the CECC, at a daily press briefing.

The flotilla left Taiwan in early March, stopped in Palau from March 12 to 15, and returned to Taiwan on April 9 but the people on board could not disembark until April 14 and 15 because of quarantine regulations.

The patient is a male cadet in his 20s, who first developed a fever and cough and lost his sense of taste on March 23 while still at sea, the CECC said.

The patient recovered after taking medicine, and tested negative for COVID-19 after all 744 of the people on the three ships were put in quarantine on April 18 following the discovery that some on board had been confirmed as having the disease.

However, he developed nasal congestion and an abnormal sense of smell while in quarantine and was sent for a second test on April 19, the CECC said, adding that he tested positive Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, 692 people had been listed as having had come into contact with the 28 confirmed cases, with 446 of them required to isolate themselves at home.

The others have been asked to practice "self-health management," which basically means wearing a mask at all times, taking and recording one's temperature twice a day, and minimizing the time one spends in public.

Meanwhile, the CECC said a passenger on a flight of 229 Taiwanese who had been stuck in Hubei province and returned to Taiwan from China on Tuesday night had tested negative for COVID-19 after exhibiting potential symptoms of the disease, the CECC said.

All 231 passengers who returned from China on a similar flight Monday night have also tested negative, the center said.

The CECC also said Wednesday that it has completed its monitoring of the possible spread of the disease from a cluster of 12 COVID-19 patients who were on a China Airlines flight from New York to Taiwan on March 30.

Of Taiwan's 426 COVID-19 cases to date, 343 have been classified as imported, 55 as local infections, and the 28 from the "Panshi" are still being investigated to see if the source of the infections were imported or domestic, according to the CECC.

To date, 236 COVID-19 patients in Taiwan have been categorized as recovered, six have died, while the others are still hospitalized, the CECC said.

Globally, COVID-19 has infected 2,570,203 patients in 184 countries and regions, including 823,786 in the U.S., 204,178 in Spain, 183,957 in Italy, 178,172 in France and 143,457 in Germany, with a total of 175,948 fatalities, according to CECC statistics as of Wednesday.

(By Lee Hsin-Yin)

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