Fubon Financial Holdings confirmed on Wednesday that an imported COVID case reported on Tuesday was indeed their company''s chairman, Richard Tsai. Speculation had been rife on Tuesday over the patient''s identity, as details released by the CECC matched the company''s chairman. Fubon Financial Holdings says Tsai is currently in good condition in a specialized isolation ward, and that the company''s operations have been unaffected.

Richard Tsai (July 23)
Fubon Financial Holding chairman
Good morning everyone. I would like to thank you all for attending this shareholders’ meeting even in the midst of the pandemic.

Wearing a face shield and surrounded by partitions, this was Fubon Financial Holding Chairman Richard Tsai as he presided over a shareholders’ meeting in July. Tsai was confirmed on Wednesday to have contracted COVID.

Reporter
Reports say the chairman of a financial group was diagnosed COVID-positive during quarantine after returning to Taiwan from the U.S. His age matches that of case #16,448. Could you confirm this?

Philip Lo
CECC medical response division
If the information is not relevant to our contact tracing efforts, that would fall under the category of private information. We will not confirm or deny such reports. It is an imported case, so it doesn’t matter which company he runs, or what his identity is.

Reporters asked CECC officials about the imported case’s identity, but the CECC refused to provide any details. The official CECC report says,

Case #16,448 is a Taiwanese man in his 60s who had previously received two shots of AstraZeneca. He tested positive for COVID upon arriving in Taiwan from the U.S. on Oct. 16. His case is considered a breakthrough COVID infection and he presented symptoms including a fever, muscle aches and a sore throat. Five people on his flight to Taiwan were identified as contacts and placed in home isolation. The Fubon chairman was returning to Taiwan on the same date as the confirmed case, and his age and other data matched with the description, leading to much speculation about the person’s identity in the referenced case.

Huang Tien-mu
Financial Supervisory Commission
Whether revealing or announcing this medical information, and whether that would have an impact on the company’s operations, it’s reputation or its relationship with shareholders, that is something for the company itself to assess.

In the end, Fubon Financial Holdings itself made the announcement on Wednesday morning.

The company confirmed that the subject of the imported case was indeed Chairman Tsai. The firm said he was currently getting treatment in a specialized isolation ward, and was in good condition, adding that the company’s operations have been unaffected.