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Taiwan reports 89 new COVID-19 cases, including 10 domestic

ROC Central News Agency

03/22/2022 03:01 PM

Taipei, March 22 (CNA) Taiwan on Tuesday reported 89 new COVID-19 cases -- 10 domestically transmitted and 79 that originated abroad -- and no new deaths from the disease, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

New doemstic cases

Six of the new domestic cases are connected to a cluster centered on a wedding in Chiayi City on March 13, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said at a press briefing.

To date, 10 guests at the wedding and six of their contacts have tested positive for COVID-19, Chen said, adding that the CECC is still trying to trace the source of the cluster.

Another domestic case tested positive in quarantine, and his infection is related to a 31-case cluster that was first identified at a buffet restaurant in Kaohsiung, Chen said.

The remaining three domestic cases are a nurse at Taipei City Hospital's Heping Branch, and her husband and son, Chen said.

The nurse, who works in the hospital's emergency room and COVID-19 testing station, came into contact with two positive cases on Saturday. On Monday, she began to display symptoms of the disease, with a test result the same day coming back positive, Chen said.

The CECC will conduct genome sequencing to determine the source of her infection, Chen said.

Eight of the new domestic cases Tuesday had received two or three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, while two, including a boy under five years old, were unvaccinated, according to the CECC.

Latest COVID-19 situations

The CECC said it was currently monitoring six domestic clusters and three individual cases in Taiwan.

Genome sequencing conducted in five of the clusters and one of the individual cases found that the infections were caused by three different versions of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, according to the CECC.

The figures do not include imported cases reclassified as domestic ones, nor retroactively removed cases. As of March 22, Taiwan recorded 915 domestic cases in 2022, while the total number of imported cases rose to 6,519 from 2,375 on Dec. 31.

In addition to the 10 new domestic cases recorded Tuesday, the CECC also reported 79 imported cases, including 26 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 22,091 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 15,518 domestically transmitted infections.

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

(By Chiang Yi-ching)

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