TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Wednesday (July 27) confirmed the first two local cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.5 in children and the first family cluster infection tied to BA.5.

During a press conference that afternoon, Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC, announced that genetic sequencing of two family members of the index case, a shipyard worker in Kaohsiung in his 50s, had revealed that they are infected with BA.5. The two family members include a boy under the age of five and another boy under the age of 10.

The child under the age of five experienced a fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, and other symptoms with a Ct value of 21.6. The boy under 10 is asymptomatic and had a Ct value of 21.1. Lo said that the two infected children had completed seven days of home care.

The previously reported local BA.5 cases contracted the virus while picking up passengers from the airport and the first two community transmission cases were adults. According to Lo, the two boys tied to the Kaohsiung shipyard worker are the first children to have contracted BA.5 locally in Taiwan.

Lo said that in previously suspected cases of community transmission, family members were also infected, but the low number of viral particles made it impossible to run genetic sequencing to determine which subvariant was responsible and confirm that it was a family cluster infection. He said that genetic sequencing has shown that these latest cases are the first confirmed family cluster infection involving BA.5.

Lo reiterated that in terms of the source of the infection in the shipyard case, the possibility of wider community transmission cannot be completely ruled out. However, he said that the child who developed symptoms on July 11 did not go out for two days before the onset of symptoms, and his mother had not tested positive for the virus.

He said that the center believes that while working in the shipyard, the man contracted the virus and brought it home. Lo also said it is necessary to run genetic sequencing on samples from the index case's contacts at the shipyard who have tested positive for COVID to determine the spread of the BA.5 cluster infection.