TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – Health officials in Taiwan are quarantining 5,000 people as they search for the source of two new coronavirus cases linked to a hospital.
Authorities said on Monday that they were unable to identify how husband and wife were infected after a brief stay at Taoyuan General Hospital, located in the city of Taoyuan, near the capital of Taiwan. The man was hospitalized for three days for health problems unrelated to COVID-19, while his wife took care of him.
Those quarantined include patients discharged from the hospital from January 6 to 19 and their caregivers.
Taiwan is on higher alert after the latest domestic cluster, which has seen 15 cases from the hospital in Taoyuan.
Taiwan was applauded for its quick and sustained efforts to contain COVID-19, with only seven deaths and fewer than 900 confirmed cases, despite its proximity to China, where the pandemic began.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
– Health officials in Thailand have reported 959 new cases of coronavirus infection, a daily record that was expected after massive proactive testing began in a province that has been the center of the country’s biggest outbreak. The total announced on Tuesday includes 914 cases announced the day before in Samut Sakhon province alone, after health officials began the testing effort targeting up to 10,000 people a day for a week. Most of the confirmed cases in Samut Sakhon occurred among Myanmar migrants working in the fishing industry and in factories. Thailand confirmed 14,644 cases, including 75 deaths since its first case in January last year. More than 10,000 of its total have been recorded since December 15, when the Samut Sakhon outbreak was detected and a second group related to gaming dens was discovered.
– Chinese airlines are offering reimbursed tickets, as the coronavirus continues to spread in the northeast. The government’s aviation authority’s offer on Tuesday comes amid an impulse to prevent people from traveling during the Lunar New Year holiday next month. China has largely controlled the spread of the virus at the local level, but travel limits remain where outbreaks have been detected, including in the capital Beijing. Schools are opening a week earlier and migrant workers have been instructed not to return to their hometowns. The death toll in the country due to COVID-19 has increased by one to 4,636 out of 89,197 cases, reported the National Health Commission, with most new cases in the northeast, where winter temperatures are well below freezing. The National Health Commission reported 53 new cases on Tuesday in Heilongjiang province, with seven others in southern Jilin province. Beijing and the Shanghai business center reported two new cases.
– Health officials in New Zealand said they found no evidence that the coronavirus is spreading in the community after confirming the first case outside a quarantine facility in more than two months. The woman developed symptoms at home after apparently being infected by a traveling companion during the mandatory quarantine. COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said on Tuesday that 15 of the 16 close contacts identified by the woman had been negative, with a result still pending. New Zealand has eliminated community transmission of the virus, at least for now.