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Most new local COVID-19 cases linked to known clusters: CECC

ROC Central News Agency

04/03/2022 06:22 PM

Taipei, April 3 (CNA) Most of the 183 new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases reported in Taiwan on Sunday were linked to known clusters, but the origins of some cases were not clear and the final day of a large gathering was called off as case numbers rose.

A total of 45 new cases were added to a Keelung cluster that started with a gathering of police officers at a karaoke bar in late March, bringing the total to 205 cases, according to the Central Election Commission (CECC)

The new cases in the cluster involved police offices, teachers and students, the CECC said.

A group of infections related to several schools in Sanxia Discrict in New Taipei grew to 44 cases Sunday, with 20 of the 71 new cases reported in the city linked to that cluster.

Also in the city, a cluster first identified in a residential complex in Zhonghe District added 14 new cases Sunday, bringing the total to 66, the CECC said.

In Taichung, a cluster connected to a wedding banquet grew to 51 cases after adding 16 on Sunday, including nine of the 15 cases reported in Hsinchu County.

The nine new cases were identified as close contacts of a nurse who tested positive for COVID-19 after attending the wedding banquet in Taichung in March.

There were, however, multiple isolated cases with unknown sources of infection.

One of them involved an aide to Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟), who confirmed Sunday that the individual tested positive for the disease. People considered to be close contacts of the infected individual, however, have all tested negative, he said.

Though the central government said it will not consider imposing stricter prevention measures even as case numbers have risen to new highs for the year in recent days, some local governments were still taking precautions.

The Pingtung County government decided to call off the final day of the three-day Taiwan Music Festival in Kenting on Sunday after receiving a report Saturday that a person attending the festival tested positive for COVID-19, according to Information and Tourism Department chief Yin Feng-lan (鄞鳳蘭).

The local government had the infected individual check into a hospital and sent nearly 10,000 text messages to people who had attended the festival on Friday and Saturday to get COVID-19 tests, Yin said.

It has also transported 3,000 rapid test kits to the festival's service center in Kenting and set up four COVID-19 testing centers in Hengchun, Pingtung County Magistrate Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) said in a Facebook post.

(By Lee Hui-ting and Evelyn Kao)

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