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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Local infections highest since June last year
People attend a dinner event in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District yesterday as the Central Epidemic Command Center reported 83 local COVID-19 infections, the highest since June 27 last year. Photo: CNA
WORKERS’ DORMITORIES: Most of the local cases were linked to a cluster infection in Hsinchu County, while a cluster in Keelung rose by 19 new cases to reach 27
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
The Central Epidemic Command Center （CECC） yesterday reported 83 local COVID-19 cases, including 52 linked to a construction site in Taoyuan and its workers’ dormitories in Hsinchu County.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung （陳時中）, who heads the center, said yesterday’s domestic caseload is Taiwan’s highest since June 27 last year, when 88 local cases were reported.
Yesterday’s local cases include a family of four in Taitung County. The initial case in the family cluster is a woman who tested positive after seeking treatment for a fever, vomiting and a sore throat, Chen said.
Four other local cases are linked to a case reported on Saturday, an insurance salesperson in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District （三重）, he said.
The infection sources of the family cluster and the New Taipei City cluster are still unknown, he added.
Two other local cases are linked to a cluster infection involving workers at a chemical plant in Kaohsiung. The new cases are a worker at the plant and a family member of an infected worker who both tested positive during isolation, Chen said.
Genome sequencing results from a case linked to the cluster showed that she was infected with the Omicron BA.2 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2, which is different from the Omicron strain previously detected in the nation, he said.
Two other local cases are linked to a cluster infection involving workers at a technology plant in New Taipei City’s Shulin District （樹林）, Chen said.
The Kaohsiung chemical plant cluster has expanded to 19 cases and the Shulin technology plant cluster has expanded to 22 cases, CECC data showed.
Chen said that a new cluster — comprising 52 people — has been detected at a construction site in Taoyuan and its workers’ dormitories in Hsinchu County.
As many of the workers at the site had cold-like symptoms, the company conducted rapid tests on 56 workers on Saturday and 44 tested positive, Chen said.
All 68 workers at the dormitories underwent polymerase chain reaction testing before midnight, and 50 of them — 47 Thai and three Taiwanese men — tested positive, with cycle threshold values ranging from 11.4 to 29.6, he said.
Two more case — a worker who does not live in the dormitories and his girlfriend — tested positive in expanded testing, he added.
More tests and contact tracing are being conducted, Chen said, adding that the Ministry of Labor is helping with contact tracing by providing Thai translators.
Another cluster infection the center is closely monitoring is in Keelung, Chen said.
Nineteen new cases have been added to the cluster, expanding it to 27 cases: eight police officers, eight restaurant workers, seven people who ate at the restaurant and four family members or classmates, he said.
The Keelung City Government has set up several temporary testing stations, Chen said, adding that all Keelung police officers would be tested.
As an infected police officer had attended an award ceremony on Thursday in which Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang （林右昌） took off his mask to pose for a photograph with recipients on stage, Lin was on Friday advised by the CECC to self-isolate for three days.
The announcement prompted questioning by the public as to why Lin needed to isolate for only three days.
The center on Saturday said Lin is not considered a close contact of the confirmed cases, according to its standards.
However, Chen yesterday said that more police officers have tested positive and other attendees at the award ceremony might be infected.
He said that Lin has voluntarily asked for stricter monitoring and the CECC has placed him in isolation for 10 days, starting on Friday.
The CECC yesterday also reported 120 imported cases.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung holds information boards at the Central Epidemic Command Center’s regular COVID-19 news briefing in Taipei yesterday. Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
A police officer undergoes COVID-19 testing in Keelung yesterday. Photo: CNA
