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Taiwan pilot tests positive for COVID after first jab

Central Epidemic Command Center says source of pilot's infection under investigation

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CECC chief Chen Shih-chung 

CECC chief Chen Shih-chung  (CNA photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan confirmed on Saturday (May 8) that an airline pilot and a relative have been infected with COVID-19.

Together with three new imported cases, they bring the total for Taiwan to 1,183, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said. Recent domestic infections have focused on China Airlines (CAL) pilots and the staff of a Novotel hotel near Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

Case No.1,183 is a pilot in his 50s whose source of infection still needs to be investigated, according to the CECC. He had flown to Vietnam on April 19 and to Thailand on April 22, and he had done simulation training with another pilot who was later confirmed as case No. 1,153.

On April 29, he received his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine (which requires two shots, eight to 12 weeks apart), but on May 4, he experienced fatigue and two days later developed a fever. A test taken later on May 6 turned out positive, and two contacts were ordered to quarantine.

Case No. 1,184 is a woman in her 50s who lives in the same household as the pilot, the CECC said. She underwent a test because he had been diagnosed with the coronavirus. As she had visited a Taipei Fubon bank in the district of Neihu on May 5, the branch is being disinfected, reports said.

Taiwan’s total of 1,183 coronavirus cases includes 12 deaths and 12 cases still under investigation. The country has counted 1,036 imported cases, 96 local ones, 36 originating from the Taiwan Navy’s "Goodwill Fleet," two infected on board a flight, and one case classified as unresolved.

Another case, No. 530, was later dismissed, explaining why the latest of Saturday’s patients was labeled as case No. 1,184.

As of Saturday, 89 patients were still being cared for in hospitals, with 1,082 having been released from care, according to the latest CECC statistics.