Taiwan sees 7 new local COVID-19 cases, 3 in Greater Taipei

ROC Central News Agency

03/11/2022 06:12 PM

Taipei, March 11 (CNA) Taiwan on Friday reported seven new locally-transmitted COVID-19 cases, three of which are linked to a family cluster in the Greater Taipei area, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

Greater Taipei family cluster

One of the family members, a man in his 40s who lives in New Taipei, developed a sore throat, fever and fatigue on Wednesday, and a rapid COVID-19 home test kit he took was positive for COVID-19, CECC spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said at a press briefing.

The man immediately sought another test at a hospital and the result came back positive on Friday with a cycle threshold (CT) value of 14.4, which indicates a high viral load, Chuang said.

The source of the man's infection currently remains unknown, Chuang explained, adding that two of the man's relatives in Taipei, who do not live with him, also tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.

They are among 107 people identified as contacts, of which a total of 94 have tested negative for the disease, the spokesman said.

Cases in Tainan

Meanwhile, the four other local cases are two women and two men in Tainan whose infections are linked to a recent tour group cluster that began with an employee at a Kaohsiung buffet restaurant, who tested positive for the disease in February, according to the CECC.

Several of the employee's family members, including her parents, have tested positive, and the cluster has since spread to a hospital in Tainan, prompting it to suspend outpatient services until March 13 after two employees at the hospital tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.

They are a pharmacist and a pharmacy assistant, and CECC official Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) confirmed Friday that genome sequencing showed both cases are linked to the tour group cluster, which now totals 24.

The figures do not include imported cases reclassified as domestic ones, nor retroactively removed cases. As of March 11, Taiwan recorded 879 domestic cases in 2022, while the total number of imported cases rose to 5,627 from 2,375 on Dec. 31.

In addition to the domestic cases, the CECC also reported 75 imported cases on Friday, including 45 travelers who tested positive on arrival in Taiwan. The CECC did not release any information regarding the vaccination status of the imported cases.

To date, Taiwan has confirmed 21,163 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 15,482 domestically transmitted infections.

With no deaths reported Friday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 fatalities in the country remains at 853.

(By Chang Min-hsuan, Chiang Hui-chun and Ko Lin)

Enditem/AW

1. More doses of the Moderna and Pfizer-BNT 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, while medical workers can sometimes get more than the standard number of shots from a Pfizer-BNT vial. 2. Information about the booster dose and additional dose can be found at https://t.ly/4ZuW