Taiwan reports ninth COVID-19 death, two new imported cases
ROC Central News Agency
02/04/2021 04:20 PM
Taipei, Feb. 4 (CNA) A British man in his 70s has become the ninth patient in Taiwan to die of COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Thursday.
He was also the first foreign national to die of the disease in the country, the CECC said.
The man traveled from the United Kingdom to Taiwan on Dec. 18 to visit family and began to suffer from a sore throat and fatigue during quarantine, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said at a press briefing in Taipei.
He was admitted to hospital on Dec. 29 and tested positive for COVID-19 two days later. His situation continued to deteriorate and he had to be intubated and transferred to an intensive care unit, Chen said.
He was later put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), but suffered from organ failure and numerous infections. His condition failed to improve and he died on Wednesday, Chen said.
The man was able to be in touch with both his family in Taiwan and the U.K. while he was in the hospital, said CECC advisor Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳), adding that his body was cremated on Wednesday.
According to Chang, the man had cardiovascular disease, which, compounded with his old age, put him at higher risk of developing a severe case of COVID-19.
Although the man was infected by a new variant of the COVID-19 virus first detected in the U.K. and believed to be more transmissible, Chang said the hospital could not conclude whether his death was related to the new variant.
Data from other countries show that the new variant does not cause a higher mortality rate than previous strains, Chang added.
Four other COVID-19 patients in Taiwan who were also infected by the U.K. variant all had mild cases of the disease and three have already been discharged, according to the CECC.
Taiwan also recorded two new imported cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, one each from Indonesia and the United States, according to the CECC.
The case from Indonesia is a man in his 40s who traveled to Taiwan on Jan. 10 to work as a crew member on a ship. His employer arranged for him to get tested after he finished quarantine and self-health management, and his result came back positive on Thursday, the CECC said.
As the only two people with whom he had contact were adequately protected, they will only be asked to follow self-health management protocols rather than having to go into quarantine, the CECC said.
The other case is an American woman in her 60s who traveled to Taiwan for business on Jan. 15, according to the CECC.
She took a self-paid COVID-19 test on Feb. 3, three days before she planned to return to the U.S., the results of which came back positive on Thursday. Eleven people with whom she was in contact in Taiwan are now in quarantine, the CECC said.
To date, Taiwan has recorded 919 cases of COVID-19, 805 of which have been classified as imported. Of the total, 839 have recovered, nine have died and 71 remain in hospital, CECC data shows.
Globally, COVID-19 has infected over 104.2 million people in 193 countries and regions, with more than 2.2 million fatalities, according to CECC statistics as of Thursday.
(By Chiang Yi-ching)
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