Four new domestic COVID-19 cases reported in Miaoli, Kaohsiung
ROC Central News Agency
02/14/2022 06:14 PM
Taipei, Feb. 14 (CNA) Taiwan reported four new domestic COVID-19 cases on Monday, involving residents of Miaoli County and Kaohsiung, bringing the number of clusters or individual cases with unknown sources being monitored by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) to 11.
New COVID-19 case in Miaoli
The new case in Miaoli County is a woman in her 40s who operates a stall at Zhunan Second Market (竹南第二公有零售市場), a traditional market in Miaoli's Zhunan Township, on Minzu Street, according to the CECC and the county government.
The woman got tested after learning that two individuals in a cluster linked to a gravel supplier in Kaohsiung visited the market prior to testing positive, though they did not visit the woman's stall, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said.
More tests need to be conducted to determine whether the woman's infection is linked to the cluster, Chen said.
The cluster surrounding the gravel supplier has grown to over 30 cases in the past week, extending to contacts of company employees with cases recorded in Tainan, Miaoli County, Hsinchu County, and New Taipei, CECC data shows.
The source of the cluster is unknown.
Unknown sources in Kaohsiung
The remaining three domestic cases reported Monday were all Kaohsiung residents, of whom two are a mother and son in their 50s and 20s.
The mother returned from China to Taiwan on Jan. 16 and only began showing symptoms of the disease on Sunday, which indicates that she was infected in Taiwan and not overseas, Chen said.
The CECC is still looking into how the two became infected, he added.
The other case in Kaohsiung is a man in his 20s who works at a drink shop and whose source of infection is also unknown, Chen said.
Of the new domestic COVID-19 cases confirmed Monday, three had received either two or three vaccine doses, and the fourth had not been vaccinated, according to CECC data.
Currently, there are 11 clusters or individual cases with unknown origins in Taiwan that the CECC is monitoring. Genome sequencing has been performed on samples from patients in seven of the clusters, which show they were infected with four different versions of the Omicron variant.
These clusters and cases include 161 patients in New Taipei, Taoyuan, Tainan, and Kaohsiung cities, Yilan and Pingtung counties, CECC data shows.
Imported COVID-19 cases
In addition to the domestic cases, Taiwan also reported 50 imported cases on Monday, 27 of whom tested positive upon arrival. The CECC did not release any information regarding the vaccination status of the imported cases.
To date, Taiwan has confirmed 19,621 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 15,323 domestically transmitted infections.
With no deaths reported on Monday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the country remains at 851.
(By Chiang Yi-Ching)
Enditem/AW
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