The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Friday adjusted the number of COVID-19 cases in a cluster at Taoyuan airport to 11, saying that genome sequencing had indicated one of them was not part of an infection chain linked to the cleaning staff.
The patient, a 58-year old taxi driver who was transporting arriving travelers to quarantine locations, was confirmed to have caught the disease earlier in the week and will be categorized as a separate case, the CECC said, revising its count in the airport cluster from 12 to 11.
Three family members and six other contacts in the driver's community have tested negative for COVID-19, so far, Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (???) said at a CECC press briefing.
Meanwhile, the CECC on Friday confirmed four new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases, listing them as a 27-year-old security guard working in Terminal 2 at the airport, two members of the Golden Voice (?????) social club, and the sister of one of those club members.
The other seven cases in the cluster are airport cleaners, who were confirmed earlier this week to have contracted COVID-19, the CECC said.
In the case of the security guard, a woman in her 20s, Chen said some 388 contacts had been identified, and 105 have tested negative for the disease, so far. The test results for 257 others were due later Friday, while arrangements were being made for another 26 others to be tested, he said.
Chen said the first person infected in the cluster was likely an airport cleaner -- a woman in her 50s who was confirmed Wednesday to have contracted the disease.
The woman tested positive for anti-nucleocapsid (N) antibodies, and she also had the highest cycle threshold (CT) value among the 11 people in the cluster, which indicated that she had been infected a while ago, he explained.
At a separate event Friday, Victor Wang (???), the CECC's on-site commander at the airport, said priority was being given to identifying all possible contacts in the cluster to curb the spread of the disease.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel