The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) reported two domestic cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.5 of SARS-CoV-2 on Monday, bringing the total number of such cases to 13.
The two cases involved one man and one woman from northern Taiwan, both in their 30s, said Lo Yi-chun (???), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
The man had received three doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and not traveled abroad in the six months prior to his infection, Lo said.
The man developed a fever on July 24, and tested positive following a PCR test at a hospital with a Ct value of 21. He was determined to be infected with the BA.5 subvariant via genome sequencing, Lo said.
One of the man’s two cohabiting family members also tested positive, with a Ct value of 32, according to Lo.
The cohabitant was most likely infected by the man, as he developed severe symptoms on July 28 after driving the man to hospital three days earlier, but that has not yet been confirmed by genome sequencing, Lo said, suggesting that it could be a case of community infection.
The female patient had received two shots of COVID-19 vaccines, and had not traveled overseas in the six months prior to her infection, Lo said.
The woman developed symptoms on July 23, but a rapid test returned a negative result despite persistent discomfort. She went to hospital the next day, where a PCR test yielded a positive result with a Ct value of 19, and genome sequencing determined it was BA.5.
Six family members who live with the woman all tested negative, while the July 24 test result of one of her three contacts at work was positive with a Ct value of lower than 30, suggesting a high chance of community infection, although it is not yet certain whether the two cases are related, pending the outcome of an ongoing genome sequencing, Lo said.
Genome sequencing of 148 domestic cases last week yielded four cases of BA.5 — the two cases announced Monday plus two cases of contacts at a Kaohsiung ship building company, according to the CECC.
As of press time, Taiwan had confirmed 13 domestic cases of BA.5, including four community infections.
On Monday, Taiwan also added one more imported case of BA.2.75, a sublineage of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the second such case in Taiwan since July 22, when a traveler from India was detected as infected with BA.2.75.
The latest case involved a man in his 40s traveling from Thailand, who had received two shots of COVID-19 vaccines, Lo said. The man tested negative when entering Taiwan on July 20, but started to develop headaches on July 23, when both a rapid and a PCR test showed a positive result while undergoing quarantine at a hotel.
The patient, who had a Ct value of 13.4 and was detected to have been infected with the BA.2.75 sublineage, was released from quarantine on July 31, Lo said.
Another four passengers who flew into Taiwan together with him all tested negative upon entering the country but will need to undergo a PCR test to confirm their status, Lo added.
Source : Focus Taiwan News Channel