Taiwan on Tuesday reported four new domestic COVID-19 cases, involving three employees at Taoyuan International Airport and a taxi driver, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said.
The four cases — which include one announced by the CECC late Monday evening — are three airport cleaners who take the same shuttle bus to work and a taxi driver tasked with driving travelers who have just arrived in Taiwan to quarantine hotels or centers.
The first case to test positive among the four, one of the airport cleaners, has been confirmed as having the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said at a press briefing.
The three cleaners are Taiwanese women in their 40s to 50s who clean restrooms in different areas of the airport: a parking lot used by taxi drivers, an office area, and near a baggage claim area, Chen said.
Prior to their positive test results on Monday and Tuesday, the women tested negative for COVID-19 on Dec. 27-28, Chen said.
The driver is a Taiwanese man in his 50s. Two passengers he drove on Dec. 26 and Dec. 31 were previously listed as imported COVID-19 cases, and a test he took on Dec. 29 came back negative, Chen said.
He tested positive on Tuesday, after the CECC began testing all taxi drivers who transport arrivals from the airport, Chen said.
The CECC is still investigating how the four individuals contracted COVID-19, and are unable to confirm whether the three cleaners’ infections are linked to that of the taxi driver, Chen said.
As one of the cleaners cleaned restrooms used by taxi drivers, it is possible that is how the disease spread, Chen said.
Nine family members of the four patients have tested negative for COVID-19, while two are still being processed, according to Chen.
The cleaner confirmed with the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus also operates a stall selling earrings, hair bands, and figurines in the Qianlong Street section of Zhongzhen Market (忠貞市場) in Zhongli District, and was there on the mornings of Dec. 30 and Dec. 31, Chen said.
Starting on Tuesday afternoon, people will be able to get tested for free at three COVID-19 testing sites near the market, from 9-12 a.m. and 2-5 p.m. each day, Chen said.
The testing sites are at Longgang playground (龍岡大操場天幕), a Hakka center on Kanding Road (北區客家會館), and Liming Park (龍岡黎明公園), Chen said.
In addition to the four domestic cases reported Tuesday, Taiwan also recorded 30 new COVID-19 cases contracted abroad. Of those, 26 were breakthrough infections, three occurred to people who were unvaccinated, and one case is still being investigated.
To date, Taiwan has confirmed 17,129 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, of which 14,442 are domestic infections reported since May 15, 2021, when the country first recorded more than 100 cases in a single day.
Daily domestic case numbers have fallen to mostly single digits or zero, however, since Aug. 15. Taiwan has recorded four domestic cases in January so far.
With no deaths reported Tuesday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the country remains at 850, with all but 12 recorded since May 15.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel