TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Seven people were reportedly diagnosed with COVID-19 Monday (May 17) in what appears to be a nosocomial outbreak at the Far Eastern Memorial Hospital in New Taipei City's Banqiao District.
The Far Eastern Memorial Hospital announced that seven people have tested positive for the coronavirus in the hospital, reported CNA. Outpatient services have been reduced and inpatients cannot re-enter once they leave.
Meanwhile, coronavirus testing of inpatients has been expanded. The New Taipei City Department of Health said it is monitoring the situation at the hospital and that medical staff who had come in contact with the confirmed cases have been tested for the virus.
According to the hospital, a patient was admitted to the emergency room for treatment on May 10 and on May 12 developed a fever. On May 13, family members of the patient said they had recently visited a tea parlor in Taipei's Wanhua District.
A PCR test was carried out that day, and they were diagnosed on May 14. The patient was immediately transferred to a negative pressure isolation ward, and testing was expanded to patients who had been in the same ward and their caregivers.
Thus far, seven people in the hospital have been diagnosed with the disease. The hospital stated that the first round of PCR tests administered on medical staff have come back negative, with the second round to be carried out Monday.
