Seven of 11 new local COVID cases linked to Kaohsiung gravel supplier
ROC Central News Agency
02/12/2022 07:22 PM
Taipei, Feb. 12 (CNA) Taiwan reported on Saturday a total of 60 new COVID-19 cases, including 11 locally transmitted infections, most of which were linked to a cluster centered on a gravel supplier in Kaohsiung, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
Cases linked to Kaohsiung cluster
Of the 11 new domestic cases, five are residents in Miaoli County, who were visited by two relatives from Kaohsiung during the Lunar New Year holiday, Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said during the CECC's press briefing Saturday.
The two relatives from Kaohsiung include an employee working at the gravel supplier in Kaohsiung and his mother, who were both confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, according to Chen.
Meanwhile, another employee at the gravel supplier and his son, who live in Tainan, tested positive for COVID-19, Chen added.
These seven new cases bring the number of COVID-19 infections linked to the gravel supplier to 27, three of which have been confirmed to have contracted the same Omicron variant of the coronavirus behind the wider outbreak in the southern port city, according to the CECC.
The figures do not include imported cases reclassified as domestic ones, nor retroactively removed cases. As of Feb. 12, Taiwan recorded 707 domestic and 1,779 imported COVID-19 cases in 2022.
Another resident in Tainan, who had been in the same restaurant in Miaoli County as several cases confirmed in recent days involving four of five sisters and their family during the Lunar New Year holiday, tested positive for COVID-19 after he was listed as a contact, Chen said.
Genome sequencing results showed the second youngest of the sisters, who lives in Kaohsiung, also contracted the same Omicron variant found in the wider Kaohsiung Port outbreak, CECC official Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) said during the press briefing.
Integrated circuit packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology Holding Co., the company which the youngest of the five sisters, who was confirmed to have COVID-19 Friday, works for, released a statement Saturday saying its operations in Kaohsiung should not be affected.
In a separate press briefing, the Kaohsiung City government said 63 people who had been listed as contacts of the youngest sister had all tested negative.
Cases in Taoyuan
The remaining three new domestic cases were reported in Taoyuan, involving a janitor at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and two children of a man who returned from China in late January, who was listed as one of the imported cases on Saturday, according to the CECC.
The man traveled from China to Taiwan on Jan. 23 and began experiencing symptoms, including fever and cough, three days after he finished a 14-day quarantine and returned to his home in Taoyuan, Chen said.
He went to a testing site in Taoyuan and tested positive, leading to further tests of his family, in which his two daughters also tested positive for COVID-19, while his wife tested negative, Chen said.
The man received three doses of a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine produced by Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical, Chen added, noting that the health authorities are still looking into the chain of infections in the family, including the quarantine hotel he stayed in.
The Taoyuan airport janitor, a man in his 60s who tested positive for COVID-19 Friday, had been previously quarantined until Jan. 21 and tested negative several times after one of his co-workers was confirmed to be this year's first domestic case on Jan. 3.
Because tests showed he had a low viral load, with a cycle threshold value of 38, the CECC determined that his infection was not recent, according to Chen.
New Taipei factory cluster update
Also on Saturday, genome sequencing results showed three of the 15 cases linked to a factory owned by Career Technology Co. in New Taipei's Shulin District were infected with the same Omicron variant of the virus behind the wider outbreak in Taoyuan, Lo said.
The first case at the factory was a Philippine worker who tested positive when she went to see a doctor on Feb. 8. The CECC reported the 15 cases on Feb. 10, and no new cases have been reported from the factory since.
Of the 11 new domestic cases, six are classified as breakthrough infections, one received two doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine but the second dose was only within the past 14 days, while four are unvaccinated, including two children under the age of 10 who are not eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the CECC.
Imported cases
In addition to the domestic cases, Taiwan also reported 49 imported cases on Saturday. Of these, 23 tested positive upon arrival in Taiwan on Friday while the rest entered the country as early as Jan. 21. The CECC did not release information regarding the vaccination status of the imported cases, except the man in Taoyuan, who returned from China on Jan. 23.
To date, Taiwan has confirmed 19,515 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 15,307 domestically transmitted infections.
With no deaths reported on Saturday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the country remains at 851.
(By Chang Ming-hsuan, Yu Hsaio-han, Han Ting-ting, Chang Jung-hsiang, Tseng Yi-ning and Kay Liu)
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