Taiwan/Covid-19: Significant resources deployed to contain the outbreak in Taoyuan

A total of 12 people have tested positive for Covid-19 since an outbreak was detected last week at the Taoyuan General Hospital in northern Taiwan, according to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) Epidemic Control Headquarters in Taipei, January 22. Significant resources are being deployed to avoid any risk of communal spread of the coronavirus.

The first of the two new local cases announced on January 22 is a patient over 90 years of age who had been hospitalized in early January for another condition on a ward of the hospital. Tested negative on January 11th during the general screening organized after the discovery of a first case in the hospital.The man had received care from 11 to 14 January by a nurse who then tested positive, and was treated by a doctor treating Covid-19 patients in another department. He had been placed in home isolation on 16 January.

The second of the new cases is the eldest daughter of this elderly patient who had cared for him at home after his return from hospital. Like him and two other family members, she had been placed in home isolation after being screened by the nurse.

As a result, this outbreak now involves seven medical staff and five of their contacts. A total of 506 contacts within the hospital and 133 contacts outside the hospital were tested during this tracing and screening phase, the CCCB said. Those who tested negative will remain in isolation until the end of the testing period and will continue to be monitored for symptoms, said Health and Social Affairs Minister Chen Shih-chung [陳時中].

In addition, all the hospital's patients were evacuated on 21 January, so that a complete disinfection of the premises can be undertaken with the help of the military. Those patients, including Covid-19 patients or those who needed to be placed in isolation, have been distributed to 11 other hospitals in Taoyuan, according to Taoyuan Mayor Chen Wen-tsang [鄭文燦].

Since the origin of the contamination of all the local cases detected so far around the outbreak has been established, the CCCB explained that it is maintaining its alert at the first level of a system of four.

At level 1 alert, only the isolation of contact cases is required. The population is also asked to wear a mask on public transport and in certain places open to the public, organizers are asked to postpone or cancel non-essential events or events with large numbers of people, and businesses and places open to the public are asked to apply the prescribed measures (taking of temperature, recording of names, physical distance, etc.).

As things stand at present, the CCCB excludes any generalized containment of the population, a measure which it believes would only be justified at alert level 3 if at least three outbreaks occurred in Taiwan in the space of a week with more than ten daily cases whose contamination could not be traced.

Finally, the CCCB warned against spreading rumours about the outbreak and pointed out that relaying false information about Covid-19 was punishable by three years in prison and a fine of 3 million Taiwanese dollars.

As of January 22, the Covid-19 balance sheet in #Taiwan since the beginning of the outbreak is 881 positive cases detected, including 774 imported cases. Seven patients have died, 777 have recovered and 97 remain hospitalized.

Source: taiwaninfo.nat. gov.tw