Taipei mayor, deputy isolating at home after COVID-19 close contact

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Deputy Mayor Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊) have been isolating at home since Sunday afternoon after coming into contact with an individual who later tested positive for COVID-19, according to the city’s Department of Health.

The department told press on Sunday evening that a member of a delegation from the Intelligent Transportation Society of Taiwan (ITS Taiwan) received by Ko and Huang at city hall Wednesday had tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday.

As soon as they were made aware of the infection, Ko and Huang were tested for the disease and then returned home to isolate until April 23 as required, the department added.

The person Ko and Huang had close contact with during the Wednesday meeting joined a tour group to the outlying county of Penghu from April 9-13, several members of which tested positive for COVID-19, according to the department.

Right after returning to Taipei, the individual visited city hall as part of the ITS Taiwan delegation to have a meeting with Ko, Huang, and other city officials, the department said, noting that the meeting lasted nearly one hour.

Although all the 17 people in the meeting wore medical face masks, they were exposed to a high risk of virus transmission because the venue was a closed space, the department said.

In addition, the virus-infected individual returned a cycle threshold (CT) value of 22 on Saturday, indicating a high viral load, after showing symptoms on Friday.

Meanwhile, all 14 others at the meeting have also been listed as close contacts and required to isolate at home for 10 days, the department said.

The tests taken by Ko and Huang on Sunday came back negative that afternoon, the department said.

Taipei City Government spokesperson Vicky Chen (陳智菡) later said that as Ko would host meetings virtually, no important public affairs would be affected by the mayor’s temporary absence from the office.

On Sunday, Taiwan confirmed 1,210 new domestic COVID-19 infections, exceeding 1,000 cases for the third day in a row and breaking its daily record, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center.