Taiwan reported 27 domestic COVID cases on Friday, mostly in connection with previously reported clusters. Six of the cases were in Taipei and New Taipei, and these were traced back to an infected real-estate agent. In Kaohsiung, there were four cases linked to an outbreak at the port. Another four cases were part of a hotel cluster in Yilan County''s Jiaoxi Township. Let''s hear from the CECC.

Chen Shih-chung
CECC commander
At the hotel in Jiaoxi, there are now a total of 13 cases in that cluster – including the four we added today. Case #18,703, from Kaohsiung, had taken her family to Jiaoxi on vacation, and stayed at the hotel on Jan. 16 and 17. She developed symptoms upon her return, and then tested positive. One of her two children had symptoms, but her husband had no symptoms. He also tested negative. The next day the child’s symptoms persisted, so both children were tested, and both tested positive. Case #18,712 lives in Tainan, and after Case #18,703 returned to Kaohsiung, the two of them met for dinner on Jan. 23, before both tested positive. As everyone knows, we had previously said we would follow up on guests at the Jiaoxi hotel as far back as Jan. 19. However, because of this situation, we have extended tracing back to Jan. 14. The names of all previous guests at the hotel have been given to all the local health departments, who will follow up with tracing and testing.

Meanwhile, Taichung reported local cases for the first time since the omicron outbreak. Two local infections were found in the special municipality. One was a 21-year-old woman who had a CT value of 20. The other Taichung case was a breakthrough infection, involving a 25-year-old woman with a CT value of just 16.73. She had recently visited Taichung''s Shalu District Farmers'' Association, as well as a medical clinic in the city. Officials said that both locations have been thoroughly sanitized.