TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese media is reporting that two additional employees of the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have tested positive for COVID.
In a 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. On Tuesday (Jan. 4), the Liberty Times and other local media outlets began reporting that two additional airport employees had also tested positive for the virus.
On Tuesday morning, troops from the 33rd Chemical Warfare Group were deployed to the P3 parking lot where the woman carried out disinfection work. The Taoyuan International Airport Corporation (TIAC) announced that the airport terminals would be comprehensively disinfected and stressed that cleaning personnel will not come in contact with ordinary passengers.
Local reports initially stated Tuesday morning that two quarantine taxi drivers had tested positive for COVID. However, later reports stated that the new cases were not drivers but airport employees.
The parking lot where the woman worked is a waiting area for quarantine taxis. According to the TIAC, there are 552 quarantine taxis stationed in the lot. On Monday, 313 taxi drivers were tested for the virus, and further tests were carried out on the rest of the drivers Tuesday morning.
All personnel of the cleaning contractor involved are routinely tested once a week. The woman tested negative on Dec. 28, took leave on Dec. 30 and 31, and worked for three consecutive days starting on New Year's Day.
After her infection was confirmed via PCR test, the airport immediately made a full list of contacts and began testing all employees. Since the woman's working area includes airport toilets, the Terminal 2 P3 parking lot, and parking lot toilets, the Army's 33rd Chemical Warfare Group conducted a comprehensive disinfection of these areas as well as the taxi drivers' waiting lounge and elevators from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Although the woman does not work inside the terminal buildings, she enters Terminal 2 when she clocks in for her shift. Therefore, TIAC will carry out a comprehensive cleaning and disinfection of both Terminals 1 and 2 on Tuesday.
