《TAIPEI TIMES》 CECC reports 31 local cases, six deaths

‘UNDER CONTROL’: Case clusters at three markets in Taipei have abated, with only one infection found on Friday and a decreased test positivity rate, the CECC said

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

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The Central Epidemic Command Center （CECC） yesterday reported 31 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and six deaths.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung （陳時中）, who heads the center, said that the local cases were mostly from Taipei and New Taipei City, with 13 cases each, followed by Taoyuan with four cases and Keelung with one.

Nineteen of the new cases tested positive during quarantine or upon ending isolation, while 12 were detected during community testing, Chen said.

The infection sources of 21 cases have been identified, while two transmissions remain unclear and eight cases are under investigation, CECC data showed.

On Friday, only one more case connected to cluster infections at wholesale markets in Taipei’s Wanhua （萬華） and Zhongshan （中山） districts was confirmed, Chen said.

The test positivity rates and the number of daily cases at the markets and at nearby community screening stations have significantly decreased, which indicates that the virus situation at the three venues is under control, Chen said.

The CECC and the Taipei City Government therefore disbanded a joint command center tasked with supervising disease prevention efforts at the venues, he said.

Regarding a conditional easing of the restrictions scheduled to start on Tuesday, Chen said that the CECC has received complaints from the public, mostly about its decision to not allow preschools to reopen.

Showing a bar chart of COVID-19 cases since May 2 among children up to six years, Chen said that the highest number of weekly infections was reported from May 23 to 29, with 84 cases, followed by 62 cases in the week to June 5.

From Sunday last week to yesterday, only eight cases among young children were reported, he said.

However, the center did not allow preschools to reopen because young children attending the facilities would be at heightened risk, as they cannot strictly follow social distancing guidelines, he said.

Regarding an infection cluster linked to an employee of Taiwan Aircargo Terminal Ltd （華儲股份有限公司）, Chen said that five family members and 2,602 people at the company had been tested, and three family members and one colleague were found to have the disease, Chen said, adding that 26 people are yet to be tested.

A family member of the infected colleague also tested positive yesterday, he added.

Commenting on an online rumor that Taipei Municipal Wanfang Hospital had been cordoned off, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo （羅一鈞） said that the hospital has been operating at reduced capacity following three positive COVID-19 tests of patients in the same hospital room in the past three days.

However, the hospital is not closed to the public, Lo said.

Eighty-one people, including 12 hospital staff and 32 patients who were considered at risk of infection have been put under isolation and tested negative, he said.

The six deaths reported yesterday are two men and four women, aged from 30 to 90, CECC data showed.

All six had underlying health conditions, the CECC said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES