TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A nurse at a hospital in northern Taiwan where a doctor and his girlfriend, also a nurse, tested positive for the coronavirus has been confirmed as a domestic transmission, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced at a news conference late Saturday (Jan. 16).
The latest case, officially registered as case no. 852, is a woman in her 20s who spent one hour in contact with the doctor, case no. 838, on Jan. 10. This one-hour long meeting could be the cause of infection, CNA reported.
As case no. 852's father and brother have displayed symptoms of the virus, they had been taken to a hospital for quarantine, while her mother and an employee who shared a meal with her have been ordered to isolate at home.
As a result of the new case, all staff at the hospital will undergo new tests Sunday (Jan. 16), even though previous tests all turned out negative, the CECC said. Doctors and nurses who spent time in the ward used by case no. 852 will be subject to home isolation.
After the infections at the hospital were discovered, several shopping centers in the Taoyuan area closed for thorough disinfection because they had been visited by either the infected doctor or his friend.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Taiwan has registered a total of 851 coronavirus patients, including 59 domestic transmissions, according to the latest CECC data.