Taiwan reports 10th COVID-19 death, 7 new imported cases

ROC Central News Agency

03/06/2021 04:14 PM

Taipei, March 6 (CNA) A Taiwanese man in his 60s has died of COVID-19 -- the country's 10th fatality from the disease -- while seven new imported cases were reported Saturday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said.

The patient who died had contracted COVID-19 last December in Myanmar, where he was working, and he returned to Taiwan Feb. 7 on a medical charter flight, Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said at a press briefing.

The man, who suffered from chronic health problems such as diabetes and hypertension, had tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival in Taiwan and was hospitalized in a negative pressure room, Chen said.

On March 1, he took a turn for the worse and was put on extracorporeal life support, but he died Friday of multiple organ failure, Chen said.

According to CECC advisor Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳), the man's underlying health problems, coupled with his age, made him a high-risk patient for severe COVID-19.

Also Saturday, the CECC reported seven new imported cases of the disease, two from Indonesia and five from the Philippines, all migrant fishermen between ages 20 and 40.

They arrived in Taiwan on Feb. 19 to work on Taiwanese fishing boats and had all presented negative COVID-19 tests before boarding their flights, Chen said.

They were tested again on March 4, before the end of their mandatory 14-day quarantine in Taiwan, and the results came back positive Saturday, Chen said.

He said there was no need for contact tracing, as the men had not been in contact with anyone since their arrival in Taiwan, and they all remain asymptomatic.

To date, Taiwan has reported 967 cases of COVID-19, of which 851 have been classified as imported.

Of the total, 932 people have recovered, 10 have died, and 25 are in hospital, according to CECC statistics as of Saturday.

(By Chen Wei-ting and Ko Lin)

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