TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan will more than double the number of people who have to quarantine at home to more than 5,000 as it seeks to contain a small national group of COVID-19s connected to a hospital, the health minister said on Sunday.
While Taiwan has kept the pandemic well under control thanks to early and effective prevention, with the vast majority of its 890 imports imported, since January 12 it has been dealing with a small number of domestic transmissions to a hospital.
Although the 15 people infected so far at the hospital in Taoyuan City in the north are small compared to many other parts of the world, it has upset the government, which has canceled many large-scale events related to the next lunar New Year.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told reporters that they will increase the number of people who have to quarantine at home for 14 days and who may have had contact with infected patients in the hospital group.
It numbered about 5,000 people, compared to the 1,300 currently in quarantine.
The government has been testing all those who have been in quarantine and has announced new cases among them as they are confirmed.
Taiwan has a highly sophisticated system for tracking those who have been in contact with confirmed cases and an electronic monitoring network to ensure those in quarantine stay home.
Despite the new infections, Taiwan has only 95 active cases treated at the hospital. The government is holding press conferences to announce the details of each new infection.
Ben Blanchard Reports; edited by David Evans