TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A parking lot cleaner at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport has tested positive for COVID.

In an unusually late press release issued on Monday evening (Jan. 3), the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced that a woman in her 40s who works as a cleaner at the airport parking lot has been diagnosed with COVID. She had not recently traveled outside the country and had been vaccinated with two doses of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine.

On Sunday (Jan. 2), the woman began to experience a fever, chills, cough, runny nose, sore throat, and other suspicious symptoms. She underwent a rapid antigen test on Monday, and the result came back positive.

As soon as the diagnosis was confirmed, the Taoyuan Department of Public Health immediately initiated an epidemiological investigation and notified the two schools where members of the woman's family were studying and suspended classes for one day.

Six of her family members have been listed as contacts and have undergone PCR tests. The results of all six tests have come back negative, and the CECC called on teachers, students, and parents of students at the two schools to not be overly concerned.

Tests were expanded to her work contacts, including hundreds of quarantine taxi drivers who were tested overnight. The woman's work area was also disinfected.

During a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said that based on preliminary genetic analysis, the woman is infected with the Omicron variant.

The CECC has provided a list of places the woman had recently been, including the Zhongzhen Market on Qianlong Street in Taoyuan's Zhongli District. From 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Dec. 30 and 31, she sold children's earrings, dolls, and hairpins at a stall in the market.

The health department will conduct an epidemiological investigation at the market, carry out contact tracing, and disinfect the area. The CECC urged people who had visited the market on the dates mentioned to conduct self-health monitoring.

If they experience symptoms such as a fever, upper respiratory tract discomfort, diarrhea, or loss of their sense of smell and taste before Jan. 14, they should immediately wear a medical mask and go to a community testing station or designated testing institution to undergo testing and evaluation.