TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's health department on Tuesday (Sept. 28) announced that the latest local COVID case had visited "some places" in the city's Wanhua District in May and had recently gone on a five-day trip to Hualien.
Health Minister and CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) on Tuesday afternoon announced that the sole local infection reported that day, case No. 16,315, is a man in his 50s who underwent a self-paid coronavirus test due to work requirements on Sept. 27 and was diagnosed the following day.
During a press conference that same afternoon, the Taipei City Department of Health announced that the man, who is a resident of Zhongzheng District, had been active in Wanhua District in May, when a major local outbreak began. However, he tested negative for the virus on May 14.
According to the positive result of his PCR test, taken on Sept. 27, the man has a Ct value of 28.4. He is currently asymptomatic and has been placed in a hospital isolation ward, where he is undergoing medical treatment.
An antibody test is planned, and the CECC will carry out genomic sequencing to determine the source of the infection.
According to the health department, the man had stayed with friends and relatives from Sept. 18-22 in Hualien. After learning of the man's positive test result, the health department immediately contacted the Hualien County Government.
The health department has listed three relatives and seven coworkers as contacts who will be tested for the disease. An epidemiological investigation and contact tracing are currently underway.
When asked by the media whether "some places in Wanhua" meant that the man had visited tea parlors while in Wanhua, Taipei Department of Health Senior Executive Officer Ou Chia-ling (歐佳齡) said the details of locales he had visited will not be released until the epidemiological investigation has been completed. Ou said the report was provided in a short time frame and that the case description is not yet complete.