Taiwan sees 14 new local COVID-19 cases, 10 tied to real estate cluster
ROC Central News Agency
02/17/2022 07:43 PM
Taipei, Feb. 17 (CNA) Taiwan reported on Thursday 14 new domestic COVID-19 cases, of which 10 have been linked to a recently identified cluster involving a Taipei real estate agency, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
The 14 new domestic cases involved five males and nine females ranging in age from under 5 years old to their 90s, the CECC said.
Real estate cluster
Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who also heads the CECC, said 10 of the domestically-transmitted cases were linked to a real estate agency in Taipei. Eight of those are the contacts of a real estate agent who all attended a religious association gathering at a restaurant on Feb. 13.
More than 80 members of the religious association attended the event, and 25 went on to a karaoke club after the restaurant, Chen said, indicating that so far nine other people who attended both events have tested positive for COVID-19.
The 80 or so people come from Kaohsiung and greater Taipei, and one is a tour guide from New Taipei who recently visited Taitung County in eastern Taiwan, according to the CECC.
Meanwhile, of the 10 individuals linked to the cluster reported on Thursday, the health minister said two are the parents of a female real estate agent in her 50s who was confirmed as having COVID-19 on Wednesday.
The parents had cycle threshold (CT) values of 32.8 and 31.7, while their daughter had a CT value of 34.5 the first time and 37.7 the second, Chen said, indicating that it was likely the family of three are the source of the real estate agency cluster and also recently infected an interior designer in Xindian District, New Taipei.
Other domestic cases
Of the 14 domestic cases reported Thursday, four tested positive during quarantine, including the girlfriend of an employee at Lao Chiang food and beverage store in Kaohsiung, and the daughter of a Taoyuan Airport security guard.
Chen said the other two reported cases are a husband and wife in Miaoli County who caught the disease from their daughter-in-law, with the latter testing positive for COVID-19 on Feb. 12. The source of their infections can be traced to two workers at a gravel supplier in Kaohsiung who visited them during the recent Lunar New Year holiday.
Imported COVID-19 cases
In addition to the domestic cases, Taiwan also reported 54 imported cases on Thursday, involving people who arrived in the country from the United States, Vietnam, Australia, France, India, the Philippines, Ukraine, Chad, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Malaysia, Japan and Cambodia.
To date, Taiwan has confirmed 19,797 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 15,353 domestically transmitted infections.
With no deaths reported on Thursday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the country remains at 852.
(By Chen Chien-ling, Chang Ming-hsuan, Chiang Hui-chun and Ko Lin)
Enditem/AW
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
