The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) plans to assess the outcomes of its contact tracing efforts by performing antibody tests on blood donations given at the height of the domestic COVID-19 outbreak.
The CECC said in a statement that the study would also allow health authorities to better determine the risks of blood donation during the pandemic, and whether blood donation should be paused in the event of a further surge in cases.
Donors that gave blood between April 25 and July 3 who wish to opt out of the study of 5,000 randomly selected samples can call the 1922 hotline before Oct. 18 and leave either their donation identification number, or name, national identification number and birth date.
The CECC said the chances of a donor being included in the study were between 1-2 percent.
In Taiwan, the health declaration signed by individuals before they are allowed to donate blood states that they agree to “the use of the donated blood for medical purposes, and for studies related to the safety of blood donations and transfusions.”
The CECC added it would not have access to the personal information of the study’s participants, nor would the participants be contacted if their antibody test results come back positive.
The study’s main purpose was “monitoring,” Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (???) said Tuesday at the daily CECC press briefing.
“It will allow us to understand the rate of infection in each region, and allow us to compare that data with our own contact tracing efforts and the number of people who tested positive for the disease,” Chen said.
The CECC will make the results of the study public when they are available, although Chen did not say when this will occur.
Taiwan began to see a surge in domestic COVID-19 cases in mid-May, recording 500 new cases per day at the peak of the outbreak.
New daily domestic cases have gradually decreased in the past few months, falling almost exclusively to single digits since mid-August.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel