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Taiwan reports 10 local COVID cases

44 confirmed cases imported from 11 countries

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(Taiwan News, Yuwen Lin image)

(Taiwan News, Yuwen Lin image)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Wednesday (Jan. 19) announced 10 local COVID cases.

CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) also confirmed 44 imported cases. The command center did not announce any deaths, leaving the COVID death toll at 851.

Local cases

Chen said the local cases include five males and five females ranging from under 10 years old to their 60s. Of these, eight are tied to the Omicron cluster infection that started at the Taiwan Taoyuan International airport, one is the child of a nurse at Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, and the source of infection of one case in Taoyuan is unknown.

Imported cases

The 44 imported cases include 16 males and 24 females ranging in age from under five to their 70s. Of these, 18 tested positive upon arrival at the airport, while 26 tested positive during quarantine.

Between Dec. 29 and Jan. 18, they arrived in Taiwan from the U.S. (10 cases), the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, France, Spain, Australia, Cambodia, South Korea, the U.K., Ecuador, and India. The country of origin of 14 cases is still being investigated.

COVID case statistics

Since the outbreak began, Taiwan has carried out 5,336,346 COVID tests, with 5,317,735 coming back negative. Of the 18,005 confirmed cases, 3,214 were imported, 14,737 were local, 36 came from the Navy's "Goodwill Fleet," three were from a cargo pilot cluster, and one was unresolved.

A total of 115 people have been removed as confirmed cases, while 14 cases are still under investigation. In addition, case No. 17,298, which was announced on Jan. 6, has been changed to a local case after genetic sequencing and an epidemiological investigation.

To date, 851 individuals have succumbed to the disease. Of the 838 deaths from local infections, 413 were in New Taipei; 322 in Taipei; 29 in Keelung; 27 in Taoyuan; 15 in Changhua County; 13 in Hsinchu County; five in Taichung; three in Miaoli County; two each in Yilan and Hualien counties; and one each in Hsinchu City, Nantou County, Yunlin County, Tainan City, Kaohsiung City, Pingtung County, and Taitung County. The 13 other deaths were imported cases.