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Alpha variant dominant strain in Taiwan's COVID outbreak: CECC

ROC Central News Agency

07/16/2021 08:23 PM

Taipei, July 16 (CNA) The Alpha variant of the coronavirus has been the main strain found in most COVID-19 cluster infections and Taiwan's current outbreak since mid-May, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The Alpha variant, which first emerged in the United Kingdom, has been found in patients, in clusters of family infections in Taipei's Xinyi District, employees of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., workers at an industrial park in New Taipei, and a groups of friends in central Taiwan's Taichung and Changhua, results of genome sequencing of the virus show.

The CECC has completed genome sequencing of the virus in 531 COVID-19 cases since October and 470 individuals were infected with the Alpha variant, said Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞), a deputy director-general of the Centers for Disease Control, at a press briefing Friday.

Meanwhile, the more contagious Delta variant that initially surfaced in India has been identified in 29 cases, including 17 imported ones and 12 locally infected cases, according to Lo.

Seven of the patients infected with the Delta variant abroad were imported cases reported between July 10 and July 16, all tested positive for the virus at the border or during quarantine, he added.

Only one of the seven patients is being treated in hospital, while six others are asymptomatic or show mild symptoms, Lo said.

The most notable local transmission of the Delta variant was several infections reported in Pingtung, which started with two Taiwanese nationals, who returned to Taiwan from Peru on June 6.

Apart from the Alpha and Delta variants, Lo said the CECC has also identified 19 cases of the Epsilon variant related to California in the United States, six cases of the Beta variant first found in South Africa, five cases of the Gamma variant connected to Brazil and two cases of the Theta variant initially seen in the Philippines, according to Lo.

Since mid-May, when Taiwan first reported over 100 COVID-19 cases in a day, a series of measures have been introduced to tighten border controls, including centralized quarantine for people arriving from high risk countries, such as India and the United Kingdom, and increased testing.

The CECC also began conducting genome sequencing of the virus in imported cases, when a patient's Ct value is below 27.

As of Friday, Taiwan had recorded a total of 15,378 COVID-19 cases since the disease emerged in early 2020, of which 13,931 are domestic infections reported since mid-May.

Taiwan has been under a Level-3 COVID-19 alert since May 19, which makes it mandatory to wear a face mask when outside. The alert has been extended four times and is currently scheduled to end on July 26.

(By Chiang Hui-chun, Chang Ming-hsuan and Kay Liu)

Enditem/AW