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COVID cluster at Chiayi factory seems under control: health minister

ROC Central News Agency

08/01/2021 07:24 PM

 

Taipei, Aug. 1 (CNA) A cluster of COVID-19 cases linked to a factory in Chiayi County appears to be under control, less than a week after it was detected, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said Sunday.

"No new cases have been reported in the factory cluster," Chen said at a regular news briefing, referring to an aluminum factory in Chiayi, in southern Taiwan.

The cluster, first confirmed on July 28, consisted of 11 infections -- eight factory workers, two of their relatives, and the suspected source, who had visited Taipei's Wanhua District, one of the hot spots in the domestic outbreak this year.

Since July 28, a total of 98 people identified as close contacts of the infected persons in the Chiayi cluster have been tested for COVID-19, and there have been no additional cases, Chen said.

"Although further monitoring is needed, indications are that the COVID-19 cluster is not escalating," he said.

Chiayi residents who may be worried about being infected can get tested at stations set up by the county government, Chen said.

At the press briefing, he also reported 14 new cases of COVID-19 in Taiwan -- 12 transmitted domestically and two contracted overseas -- and two deaths from the disease.

Of the domestic cases, six were reported in New Taipei, four in Taipei, and one each in Taoyuan and Taichung cities, Chen said.

The source of infection in eight of the cases has been traced, while one remains unclear, and three others are still being investigated, he said.

 

The two imported cases were Taiwanese who recently returned home, one from India on July 10, and the other from Mexico on July 21, according Chen.

Meanwhile, the two people who died were both males, one in his 70s, and the other in his 60s, he said.

The new COVID-19 cases brought the total in Taiwan to 15,688, of which 14,202 are domestic infections reported since May 15, when the country first recorded more than 100 cases in a single day.

To date, 789 people have died of COVID-19 in Taiwan, including 777 since May 15.

(By Chen Chieh-ling, Chang Ming-hsuan and Emerson Lim)

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