Taiwan reports first local COVID-19 case in more than 250 days

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan has reported a locally transmitted case of COVID-19 — the first in 253 days.

The country’s Central Epidemic Command Center said on Tuesday that the patient is as a 30-year-old female. She was found to be a close contact of a foreign pilot who was previously confirmed as having contracted the coronavirus.

Health officials are in touch with 167 contacts of both individuals and have asked 13 of them to quarantine at home. An official said the pilot, who did not mention the woman as a close contact, may be found in violation of Taiwan’s epidemic prevention laws and could be fined up to $10,000.

Taiwan has largely shielded itself during the pandemic, recording just seven deaths and 770 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Taiwan had been free of local coronavirus cases since mid-April, only recording imported cases. Passengers arriving on the island must go into quarantine, and those who test positive are isolated and given treatment. Three such imported cases were also recorded Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases on Taiwan since the pandemic began to 770.

A democratically ruled island of 23 million off the coast of China, Taiwan has been seen as a global leader for its effective response to the coronavirus.

Taiwanese authorities began screening passengers on direct flights from Wuhan, China, where the virus was first identified, on Dec. 31, 2019 — when the virus was mostly the subject of rumors and limited reporting.

Taiwan confirmed its first reported case on Jan. 21, after which it banned Wuhan residents from traveling to the island. All passengers arriving from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao were required to undergo screening.

All this happened before Wuhan itself went into lockdown on Jan. 23. By March, Taiwan had banned all foreign nationals from entering the island, apart from diplomats, residents and those with special entry visas.

Taiwan’s success in keeping the virus out has enabled the island to open up and go back to relative normality in recent months, even as other parts of east Asia have been plunged back into lockdown or heightened restrictions as a result of new waves of infection.

Photos: Christmas in Taiwan

Virus by the numbers

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