離開
進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 CECC reports one local COVID-19 case
Central Epidemic Command Center spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang, right, accompanied by Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, reports the results of the COVID-19 tests of China Airlines Ltd employees at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA
CLUSTER INFECTION? Three more pilots tested positive for antibodies in an expanded program to test all China Airlines pilots, revealing a previous infection, the center said
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
The Central Epidemic Command Center （CECC） yesterday reported one local case of COVID-19, the wife of a pilot who tested positive last week, and said that three more pilots had antibodies against the novel coronavirus, indicating a previous infection.
The local case is an Indonesian woman in her 40s who is the wife of an Indonesian China Airlines Ltd （CAL, 華航） cargo plane pilot who tested positive in Australia on Tuesday last week, said Centers for Disease Control （CDC） Director-General Chou Jih-haw （周志浩）, head of the CECC’s disease surveillance division.
Nine CAL cargo plane pilots have tested positive for COVID-19 since Tuesday last week.
The woman, who had not visited other countries, was placed under home isolation on Wednesday last week after her husband was diagnosed with COVID-19, and tested negative on Wednesday and Thursday last week, Chou said.
On Monday, she reported experiencing a dry throat with a bitter taste, body aches, dizziness, nausea and insomnia, and had another test, which came back positive yesterday, Chou said.
The Indonesian couple’s teenage son tested positive on Friday last week.
The home isolation order for another family member who lives with them has been extended to May 10, Chou said.
Reporting on the progress of an expanded program to test all CAL pilots, Chou said that of the 934 pilots tested for antibodies so far, 925 were negative, six were positive and three were still awaiting results.
The six people who had antibodies against COVID-19 included three previously reported cases — case No. 151 and No. 177, who tested positive in March last year, and case No. 1,105, who on Monday was confirmed to have the virus.
The other three cases are two Taiwanese men and a Taiwanese woman, all in their 40s, who tested negative in a polymerase chain reaction （PCR） test between Thursday and Sunday last week, Chou said.
They tested negative for immunoglobulin M antibodies and positive for immunoglobulin G antibodies, indicating a previous infection, he added.
As the three had never been confirmed to have the virus, but have developed immunity against it, the CECC would look at their flight records, conduct contact tracing of crew members who had been on the same flights, and carry out PCR and antibody tests of their close contacts, he said.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung （陳時中）, who heads the center, said that the antibody testing of all pilots and close contacts of those who tested positive is aimed at gaining an understanding of the correlation between the confirmed cases, and to determine whether there might be a chain of COVID-19 transmission among them.
One more pilot was found infected with the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant, also called the UK variant, through genome sequencing, said CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo （羅一鈞）, deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
Five confirmed cases associated with the pilots are confirmed to have been infected with the UK variant, and the CECC does not rule out the possibility of it being a cluster infection, Lo said.
The CECC also reported five imported cases, including a Taiwanese woman in her 70s who is the wife of a case reported on April 14.
The couple returned to Taiwan on April 8 from a visit to Canada, Chou said.
Three other imported cases are sailors — two Burmese men and one Chinese man — who worked on the same ship as the two cases reported on Monday, he said.
Fourteen other crew members tested negative and have departed Taiwan, while three close contacts are under home isolation and 47 close contacts are practicing self-health management, he added.
A fifth imported case is a Filipino worker who tested positive upon arrival at the airport, he said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
