Four of 26 new domestic COVID-19 cases of unknown origin

ROC Central News Agency

02/08/2022 04:58 PM

Taipei, Feb. 8 (CNA) Taiwan reported 26 new domestic COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, 22 of which were linked to previously reported clusters and four whose infection source is unknown, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said.

The 22 cases are all linked to recorded clusters and tested positive in quarantine, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said at the CECC press briefing.

Of these, 16 were reported in Taoyuan, including seven employees at the Farglory Free Trade Zone, six at the FamilyMart-owned logistics company Re-Yi Distribution Service Co., and three are related to a cluster surrounding a hotpot restaurant and a preschool in the city's Bade District, Chen said.

Among the other domestic cases, two were linked to a cluster at an Yilan hotel and Kaohsiung preschool, while four were connected to a cluster in the Greater Taipei area, Chen said.

The infections in all five clusters involve the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Cases of unknown origin

The remaining four cases reported Tuesday are a family of four -- a father, mother, and their two daughters -- who live in Banqiao District in New Taipei, CECC official Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) said.

The younger daughter of the family, who is in her 20s, tested positive after showing symptoms, and her three family members, who have been asymptomatic so far, subsequently also tested positive, Lo said.

More tests are needed to determine who in the family was infected first and how they contracted the disease, Lo said.

The family's elder daughter is an employee at Deloitte Taiwan and she worked at the firm's office in Taipei's Xinyi District from Friday to Monday before she tested positive, according to a notice posted on the firm's website.

Her close contacts at work are in quarantine and others who worked on the same floor will be tested for COVID-19, the notice said.

1. More doses of the Moderna vaccine have been administered in Taiwan than the government has officially received because recipients of the Moderna booster shot are given half the standard dose of the first and second jab. 2. Information about the booster dose and additional dose can be found at https://t.ly/4ZuW

Of the new domestic cases reported Tuesday, sixteen had received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, three had received one vaccine jab, and six of them, all under the age of 10, had not been vaccinated.

The vaccination status of one case is still under investigation, the CECC said.

Imported cases

In addition to the domestic cases, Taiwan also reported 22 imported cases on Tuesday, nine of whom tested positive upon arrival in Taiwan on Monday. The CECC did not release any information regarding the vaccination status of the imported cases.

To date, Taiwan has confirmed 19,239 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 15,228 domestically transmitted infections.

The figures do not include four cases reclassified as domestic in early January, nor retroactively removed cases. As of Feb. 8, Taiwan recorded 628 domestic and 1,582 imported COVID-19 cases in 2022.

With no deaths reported on Tuesday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the country remained at 851.

(By Chiang Yi-ching)

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