More COVID-19 cases found at Taichung university
ROC Central News Agency
05/21/2021 08:47 PM
Taichung, May 21 (CNA) Rapid COVID-19 tests carried out at Chaoyang University of Technology (CYUT) in Taichung on Thursday and Friday have found 19 more possible cases of COVID-19 in the wake of several students at the school coming down with the diseases after visiting a KTV.
As of Friday noon, 19 out of 793 faculty members and students who had been tested had their results come back positive, said Taichung City Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) at a press briefing Friday afternoon.
The 19 have also taken the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and if the results come back positive, they will be hospitalized, Lu said. If the tests come back negative, they will be instructed to isolate themselves at home, she added.
A rapid testing station was set up at the university Thursday after concerns arose over a cluster of infections linked to a party held by 20 students at CityMelody KTV on May 13.
Seven of the 20 have tested positive for COVID-19, another seven have tested negative for the virus, and six are waiting for their test results, Lu said.
At her briefing, the mayor called on the rest of the 14,000 people who study or work at the university to get tested if they develop symptoms.
The university has announced that all classes remaining this semester, which ends on June 27, will go online, and many students have returned home as a result.
Taichung added five domestically transmitted infections on Friday, two of which involved CYUT students who took part in the KTV party, but the cluster began expanding beyond those who attended the gathering.
One of the cases confirmed Friday involved a student from China Medical University in Taichung who began having symptoms on May 18.
He is likely to have been infected at the KTV because he was in a room next to the CYUT group that same evening, according to Lu.
In addition, a CYUT student who is the roommate of one of the students who attended the KTV gathering and her mother have both tested positive.
The mother tested positive Thursday and her daughter Friday, the city government said.
The possible chain of infections at the KTV was discovered when the first student from the CYUT group tested positive on May 19, two days after developing symptoms.
The source of this cluster infection still remained unclear, however.
Lu urged those who were at the KTV from 11 p.m. on May 13 to 7 a.m. on May 14 to get tested as soon as possible.
According to the city government, 13 rapid testing stations have been established across the city, including 10 at hospitals and three at the city's hotspots.
In the meantime, the city government banned dining in restaurants Friday as part of the effort to reduce risks of exposure.
(By Hao Hsueh-chin and Teng Pei-ju)
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