TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Shanghai reported on Sunday (Aug. 30) that a Taiwanese national had tested positive for COVID-19 two days after arriving from Taiwan, marking the third infection likely imported from the island country in merely two weeks.
The Shanghai health authorities announced on their Weibo page on Sunday that three people had tested positive for the disease upon or after their return from Taiwan and Russia.
According to the post, the Taiwanese patient, a man in his 20s, arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Aug. 27. He was screened on arrival and has since been staying at a managed isolation facility, where he is said to have exhibited symptoms of the virus.
Taiwanese Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) Spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) explained that the Taiwanese passenger had been living in the U.S. since 2006. He returned to Taiwan on Aug. 4 and reported no symptoms during his 14 days of home quarantine.
A blood test showed the man's IgG and IgM antibodies for COVID-19 to be positive, indicating that he had been infected for three weeks or longer. Given that the results showed a PCR Ct value of 35, it is possible that he contracted the virus in the U.S. before flying to Taiwan, Chuang said.
On Aug. 14, a Chinese citizen returned home after visiting relatives in Taiwan and tested positive for the virus in Shanghai on Aug. 18. Five days later, a 70-year-old Taiwanese woman also tested positive in Shanghai.
The woman is said to have been living alone in southern Taiwan, and she arrived in Shanghai on Aug. 15. Fourteen people who had come in close contact with her have tested negative for the virus, according to the CECC.
Taiwan has recorded 488 coronavirus cases as of Sunday, with 396 cases imported, 55 local, 36 originating from a cluster infection aboard the Navy’s Goodwill Fleet, and the undetermined case of a Belgian engineer who arrived in early May to work on a wind farm project in Changhua County.
