In addition to four imported COVID cases, Taiwan reported three domestic COVID infections on Friday. All three are employees at a quarantine hotel near Taoyuan''s international airport. In just two days, there have been four cases associated with the hotel, and health officials are now calling the outbreak a cluster infection. The Central Epidemic Command Center also released the whereabouts of the new cases before their diagnoses.

Three more workers from the Novotel quarantine hotel in Taoyuan were diagnosed with COVID on Friday.

Chen Shih-chung
Health minister
Two of them are room service supervisors, the other is a staff member from the first floor. That one may not have move around too much, but the other two moved around a lot.

The CECC also announced three venues in Taoyuan that case #1,127 had visited before her diagnosis. They include a French bakery in Zhongli.

And a Japanese restaurant also in Zhongli.

Meanwhile, one day before his diagnosis, case #1,128 had taken a bus to Zhongli Railway Station, and eaten at the nearby Yuloong chain restaurant.

The restaurant''s owner says the restaurant has been fully disinfected.

Case #1,120 - a hotel housekeeper who was announced positive on Thursday - had taken the Taoyuan Airport MRT to work for several days before his test. Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan visited the network''s Airport Hotel Station on Friday to inspect epidemic-prevention efforts.

Cheng Wen-tsan
Taoyuan Mayor
In two days they sanitized 21 metro stations. They also implemented a rule requiring workers to stay at one station. The 20 workers at this station will not go to other stations, and they have to carry out self-health management. If the need arises they must go and get tested.

Cheng also reiterated that airport arrivals including passengers, pilots and flight crew, are not permitted to ride the Taoyuan Airport MRT. Doing so would incur fines of up to NT$1 million.

Since the four hotel employees tested positive for COVID in a two-day span, the CECC is now considering the outbreak a cluster infection.

Chen Shih-chung
Health minister
Definitely these cases from the hotel are a cluster, because there are already four of them.

The quarantine hotel has a total of 207 employees. After Case #1,120 was detected three of his colleagues were sent to hospital with fevers. One of them was diagnosed with the virus on Friday, together with another two employees. The remaining workers who''ve tested negative will be required to remain in a centralized quarantine facility for 14 days, where they''ll be tested for COVID antibodies. The CECC says it hopes to find the source of the infections as soon as possible.