Taiwan reports 2 new domestic COVID cases; Farglory FTZ cluster ends

ROC Central News Agency

02/23/2022 07:24 PM

Taipei, Feb. 23 (CNA) Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Wednesday reported two new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases and said that the cluster infections in Taoyuan's Farglory Free Trade Zone (FTZ) had ended.

Wednesday's new cases

The two new domestic COVID-19 cases are contacts of previous patients in another cluster that has an unknown origin, Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said.

Further investigation is needed in one of the cases, however, as the patient's test results did not show a conclusive link to the cluster that involves mainly an interior designer and a religious group in Taipei, Chen said.

The new case, a woman in her 60s, was tested for COVID-19, as she had dined at a Taipei restaurant on Feb. 9 at the same time as the interior designer who tested positive four days later, Chen said.

The test results indicated, however, that the woman had contracted the disease recently, which is why the source of the infection is still not clear, he said.

The figures do not include imported cases reclassified as domestic ones, nor retroactively removed cases. As of Feb. 23, Taiwan recorded 789 domestic and 2,333 imported COVID-19 cases in 2022.

According to CECC data, the woman had received one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, while in the second case reported Wednesday, the patient was a boy under 10 years old, who was unvaccinated.

The cluster that includes the New Taipei interior designer has recorded over 40 cases to date, with the majority being members of a religious group who had dined together at a different restaurant in Taipei on Feb. 13, according to the CECC.

Currently, in Taiwan, there are seven clusters or individual cases of unknown origin, which are being monitored by the CECC.

Imported cases

In addition to the two domestic cases, Taiwan also reported 54 imported cases on Wednesday, 31 of which involved travelers who had tested positive upon arrival in the country. The CECC did not release any information regarding the vaccination status of the imported cases.

Also on Wednesday, Taoyuan's Department of Public Health and the CECC announced an end to the cluster infections at Taoyuan's Farglory FTZ, which had reached 178 cases in the past month.

The first two cases recorded in the cluster on Jan. 21 were two employees at an Askey Computer Corp. factory in the FTZ, and the infections soon spread to 152 Askey employees, two of their relatives, and 24 workers at seven other companies in the FTZ, the health department said.

The FTZ cluster can be traced back to a wider outbreak in Taoyuan that originated at Taoyuan International Airport in early January, according to the department.

The last batch of 250 people currently in isolation because of links to the cluster all tested negative on Tuesday, and their quarantine will end Thursday, marking the end of the FTZ cluster, said CECC official Victor Wang (王必勝), who has been managing the outbreak at the industrial park.

The CECC has advised on improved disease prevention measures in the FTZ, which are already being implemented, Wang 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

To date, Taiwan has confirmed 20,156 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 15,394 domestically transmitted infections.

With no deaths reported Wednesday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 fatalities in the country remained at 852.

(By Wu Reui-chi and Chiang Yi-ching)

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