Taiwan reported two new domestic COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, both of which are connected to a cluster infection involving four schools in Taoyuan that has spawned at least 26 cases, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said.
Growing cluster in Taoyuan
The new cases involved a student at Fulin Elementary School, who was unvaccinated, and a woman in her 20s who had received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The woman is a friend of a teacher at the school who tested positive on Sunday, the CECC said.
Aside from Fulin, the cluster infection has also involved Midi Preschool, Guanyin Elementary School, and Shinjie Elementary School.
All four schools have suspended on-site classes and will hold classes virtually until March 11.
The source of the cluster remains unknown, though the CECC thinks it is likely that a family of three who were the first to test positive in the cluster were also the first to contract the disease.
Currently, the CECC is monitoring three cluster infections and three individual cases of unknown origin in Taiwan.
The figures do not include imported cases reclassified as domestic ones, nor retroactively removed cases. As of March 2, Taiwan recorded 838 domestic and 2,712 imported COVID-19 cases in 2022.
In addition to the domestic cases, Taiwan also reported 47 imported cases on Wednesday, 20 of them travelers who tested positive on arrival in Taiwan. The CECC did not release any information regarding the vaccination status of the imported cases.
To date, Taiwan has confirmed 20,582 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, including 15,441 domestically transmitted infections.
With no deaths reported Wednesday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 fatalities in the country remained at 853.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel