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Taiwan tracing contacts of 4 possible domestic cases of COVID-19

ROC Central News Agency

10/07/2020 06:57 PM

Taipei, Oct. 7 (CNA) Health authorities in Taiwan are trying to track down the contacts of four people who tested positive for COVID-19 after their recent departure from the country, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Wednesday.

Three of the patients, one Taiwanese and two Japanese men in their 50s and 60s, tested positive on arrival in Japan, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said at CECC press briefing in Taipei.

The Taiwanese man had no COVID-19 symptoms when he took a mandatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on Sept. 30 before his departure to Japan, and the result was negative, said Chen.

On arrival in Japan, however, he was tested again, in accordance with Japan's regulations, and that one came back positive on Oct. 2, said Chen, who heads the CECC.

In the case of the two Japanese men, they were not required to have the PCR test before their departure from Taiwan, only on arrival in Japan, according to Japan's regulations.

One of them tested positive on arrival in Japan on Oct. 2, but two subsequent tests on Oct. 3 and 5 came back negative, Chen said.

The other Japanese, a sailor who left port in the Philippines in July, developed chest pains on Sept. 17 and was hospitalized the next day after his vessel entered Taiwan, Chen said.

The man was discharged from hospital on Sept. 25 and went into quarantine at a hotel until Oct. 2, according to Chen.

He left Taiwan on Oct. 3 and tested positive for the COVID-19 virus on arrival in Japan that day, but a follow-up test on Oct. 4 was negative, Chen said.

"We are starting to see more instances of tests producing different results, but at the same time, there are many factors that affect the results, such as when they were taken," Chen said.

He said 74 people in Taiwan have been identified so far in the contact tracing of the three cases in Japan, and 34 of them have tested negative for the COVID-19 virus and antibodies.

Meanwhile, Chen said, the CECC was also notified of a French national in his 20s who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus on arrival in France on Oct. 1, the day after he departed Taiwan.

The man, who had first entered Taiwan in February, had no symptoms before his departure, Chen said.

In Taiwan, three of the nine people identified in the contact tracing in that case have tested negative for the COVID-19 virus and antibodies, Chen said.

"We are treating those four cases as domestic cases, and we are carrying out contact tracing and other investigations," he said.

To date, Taiwan has recorded 523 cases of COVID-19, with 431 classified as imported. Of the total, 486 have recovered, seven have died, and 30 are in the hospital, according to CECC data. The last time Taiwan recorded a domestic infection was on April 12.

(By William Yen)

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