TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — World Gym said Wednesday (Nov. 17) that it is closing one of its branches in Taipei for two days after a member was found to have contracted COVID despite being fully vaccinated.
World Gym Taiwan announced on its website that "due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic," its Nanjing branch would be closed from 2 p.m. that day and all day Thursday (Nov. 18) in order to follow Taipei City Government COVID regulations. The store, which is located in Taipei's Songshan District, will reportedly reopen on Friday (Nov. 19).
According to local media reports, one of Wednesday's imported COVID cases was a member of the gym who recently visited the facility, based on real-name registration system records. An official from the Taipei City Department of Health was cited by CNA as describing the individual as a Taiwanese woman in her 40s (case No. 16,614).
She had received a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine on May 4 while staying in India and another on July 27. She tested negative for the virus when she returned to Taiwan on Aug. 20 and tested negative again while undergoing quarantine.
However, because she was preparing to travel abroad again, she underwent another test at a hospital on Nov. 16 and was diagnosed with COVID on Nov. 17 with a Ct value of 35. She is asymptomatic but has also tested positive for antibodies for the virus, and the health department has identified two contacts who live with her and have entered isolation.
In September, the woman's son, case No. 16,147, tested positive with a Ct value of 33. As the woman was listed as a contact, she was placed in isolation at the time, but all tests for the virus came back negative.