CECC reports one new imported case
MYSTERY: The man had contracted the virus while working in Japan, then tested negative seven times before the latest test, which returned positive yesterday
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported one imported case of COVID-19 a Taiwanese man who had contracted the virus in Japan and tested negative several times before returning to Taiwan, before testing positive again.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the man, case No. 913, went to Japan for work in January last year.
The man, in his 30s, was exposed to a confirmed case of COVID-19 at his workplace, so he was tested on Dec. 25 last year and was isolated in hospital when the result returned positive, Chen said.
2021/01/13 18:58 Yaung Chih-liang Yaung Chih-liang (CNA photo) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Wednesday (Jan. 13) called on former Health Minister Yang Chih-liang (楊志良) to stop sabotaging the nation’s epidemic prevention with irresponsible remarks. According to media reports, a Taiwanese doctor recently diagnosed with COVID-19 had before his own diagnosis helped to intubate a patient suffering from the disease. The doctor s diagnosis has prompted speculation that he may have been infected by the patient. Yang, who served as health minister during former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration, sparked controversy when he said on a talk show that if he were the president of the hospital, he would fire any doctors who did not abide by standard operating procedures during intubations.
About 46 percent of the government’s quarantine rooms made available for returning residents were booked on the first day they were open for reservation, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported three new imported cases of COVID-19.
Tightened quarantine regulations, requiring inbound passengers to be mainly quarantined in hotels and centralized facilities, or “one person per housing unit” if in private housing, are to be implemented from Friday.
The CECC on Wednesday announced that it would make 1,500 to 2,000 centralized quarantine facility rooms available to returning Taiwan residents, as the Lunar New Year holiday nears, and on