Taiwan experiences first native Covid-19 case in additional than 250 days

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Based on an announcement launched by the island’s well being ministry on Tuesday, a lady in her 30s was contaminated after having contact with a international pilot, who additionally examined constructive for the virus, between December 8 and 12.

Taiwan has been coronavirus free since April 12, solely recording imported instances. Passengers arriving on the island should go into quarantine and those that take a look at constructive are remoted and given therapy. Three such imported instances have been additionally recorded Tuesday, bringing the full variety of instances on Taiwan because the pandemic started to 770.

Taiwanese authorities started screening passengers on direct flights from Wuhan, the place the virus was first recognized, on December 31, 2019 — again when the virus was principally the topic of rumors and restricted reporting.

Taiwan confirmed its first reported case on January 21, after which it banned Wuhan residents from touring to the island. All passengers arriving from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao have been required to bear screening.

All this occurred earlier than Wuhan itself went into lockdown on January 23. By March, Taiwan had banned all international nationals from getting into the island, other than diplomats, residents and people with particular entry visas.

On the identical time, monitor and hint packages and widespread testing enabled Taiwanese authorities to successfully management the native epidemic and deal with those that have been contaminated.

Taiwan’s success in holding the virus out has enabled the island to open up and return to relative normality in current months, whilst different components of east Asia have been plunged again into lockdown or heightened restrictions because of new waves of an infection.

On Monday, a prime Taiwanese well being official mentioned it might not take into account banning flights from the UK as a brand new pressure was detected due to adequate preventative measures already in place, in response to state media.

These discovered breaching the measures which have enabled Taiwan to remain virtually Covid-free for months can face extreme punishment. Earlier this month, a person was fined $3,500 by Taiwanese authorities after breaching quarantine for under 8 seconds.

The person, a migrant employee from the Philippines, was quarantining in a resort in Kaohsiung Metropolis when he briefly stepped out of his room into the hallway. He was caught on CCTV and reported to the Division of Well being, which slapped him with the advantageous.

Taiwan is not the one place in Asia grappling with the sudden reappearance of the coronavirus. Hong Kong, Korea and Japan have all reported current outbreaks, whereas Thailand on Monday started testing tens of 1000’s of individuals after a cluster was detected at a seafood market on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Round 400 folks have examined constructive thus far in connection to the brand new outbreak, and the Thai capital on Tuesday launched new social distancing measures and urged folks to chorus from giant gatherings to have a good time the New 12 months.

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Comparable numbers of infections are unlikely in Taiwan, nevertheless, because the island’s geographic isolation makes controlling and monitoring infections simpler than in lots of different components of Asia.

Reporting contributed by CNN’s Beijing bureau, Paula Hancocks and Joshua Berlinger.

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