TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan announced six new COVID cases on Thursday evening and Friday morning (Jan. 13-14), including a teen employee of a steakhouse, a Thai restaurant chef, and bank cluster contacts.
On Thursday evening, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced that a female in her teens had tested positive for COVID with a Ct value of 22.5. She is an employee of the Tasty branch on Zhongshan Road in Taoyuan's Zhongli District and has been identified as case No. 17,774.
She came in contact with case No. 17,630, a bank clerk, as coworkers from the Union Bank branch in Zhongli had a year-end banquet at the restaurant on Jan. 7. The teen works part-time at the restaurant as she studies at Taoyuan Municipal Jhongli Commercial High School, which has halted classes for two weeks.
Although she began to experience symptoms of COVID six days ago, she continued to go to work, potentially spreading the virus to many others. The health department has listed 40 students and five family members as contacts, all of whom have been placed in a quarantine center for isolation. A middle school and elementary school where family members are studying have also suspended classes for one day.
Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) on Friday morning announced that there are six new confirmed COVID cases. Four of these are tied to a cluster infection at the Union Bank, including case No. 17,630's father, mother, boyfriend (case No. 17,772), and the teen who worked at Tasty.
The two other cases include a relative of a Golden Voice Singing Club member who works as a chef (case No. 17,770) at Thai Town Cuisine in Taoyuan and the husband of the close female friend of case No. 17,472, the residential service worker.
