News
Coronavirus cases in Taiwan continue to rise
By ECCT staff writers
The number of confirmed 2019 novel coronavirus (Covid-19) cases in Taiwan continues to rise, although at a scale and pace much slower than in China. Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) has reported two more confirmed coronavirus cases in Taiwan, bringing the total number of cases in Taiwan to 24, with one death since the outbreak began.
This contrasts strongly with figures from China. Just yesterday, officials in Hubei Province, the centre of the outbreak, reported 411 new cases, up from the previous day's total of 349, bringing the total number of cases in China to over 75,000 with a death toll of over 2,200.
In related news, the CECC has confirmed that a Taiwanese businessman who recently returned from China's Zhejiang Province was the source of the Covid-19 infection that led to the death of a 61-year-old man from central Taiwan over the past weekend. According to the centre, the man returned from China on 22 January and came into contact with the victim through his taxi service.
Health officials say the results of two subsequent tests carried out by the National Taiwan University Hospital and Academia Sinica show that the man's blood contained the coronavirus' antibody, indicating that at one point he was infected. The taxi driver then passed on the virus to four relatives during a family gathering on 27 January.
Authorities are still looking into how a woman in her 60s, who lives in northern Taiwan, was infected with Covid-19, the first case in Taiwan to have an unknown infection origin. The woman was confirmed as Taiwan's 24th coronavirus case on 19 February. According to health minister, Chen Shih-chung, authorities have been able to locate 352 people who came into contact with the patient. So far, 111 have tested negative for the virus.
