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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 CECC finds no trace of coronavirus in food imports
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai, right, and Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, are pictured in a screen grab from the mayor’s Facebook page. The mayor posted the photograph on Thursday to thank the minister for his efforts in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: Ke Yu-hao, Taipei Times
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
The Central Epidemic Command Center （CECC） yesterday said that COVID-19 surface testing on 104 batches of frozen food imported from 10 countries all came back negative. It also reported three new imported cases of COVID-19.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung （陳時中）, who heads the center, said that although health and food safety authorities in most countries have not found any evidence of COVID-19 transmission through frozen foods, one country has repeatedly claimed to have found the novel coronavirus in imported frozen food and packaging.
Chinese authorities have reported finding imported cases of the virus on frozen meat and seafood, as well as in ice cream, cherries and milk dates.
To be on the safe side, the Food and Drug Administration （FDA） has since last year regularly conducted COVID-19 surface testing on the outer and inner packages of imported food last year, he said, adding that all the tests conducted from Nov. 6 last year to Sunday came back negative.
Tested food products include frozen pork, beef, chicken, salmon and other seafood, the FDA said, adding that it would continue to conduct tests and include more types of food items to enhance safety.
Chen said the expanded list of food products for testing would include those that have been reported by other countries to contain the coronavirus.
Chen said 4,325 people linked to a cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital have been placed under isolation, while another 440 have been released from isolation.
CECC specialist advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen （張上淳） said that among the 19 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the cluster infection, two are hospitalized in intensive care units and are on ventilators, and four have developed pneumonia, while the others showed only mild symptoms.
Chen said that the hospital’s final clearance plan — including disinfection and wide-scale tests — would begin by asking 2,088 hospital employees and contract workers to undergo a final polymerase chain reaction （PCR） test from today to Friday, and plans for them to undergo serological antibody tests are being discussed.
If all the PCR tests and environment testing come back negative, the hospital would gradually return to normal operations, he said.
Reporters also asked for an update on case No. 913, a Taiwanese man in his 30s, who tested positive for COVID-19 and was hospitalized in Japan last month. He underwent testing five times in Japan and twice in Taiwan last month after being released from isolation. However, he tested positive again after developing symptoms during quarantine on Friday.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang （莊人祥）, who is the CECC’s spokesman, yesterday said contact tracing showed that the man might have fabricated his symptoms to receive another test, so whether he would be fined would depend on an investigation by the local health department.
As the man had a low viral load in the latest PCR test and he is not showing any symptoms, the center still believes that he might have contracted the disease in Japan, Chuang said, adding that another test has been conducted for clarification and the result would be released today.
Chen said three imported cases were confirmed yesterday — a Taiwanese who returned from the US, a Japanese who arrived from Japan and a Taiwanese who returned from the Philippines.
As the two Taiwanese experienced symptoms during quarantine, 26 people who were near them during flights or at quarantine hotels have been put under isolation, he said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
