Taiwan orders quarantine of up to 5,000 people in case of viral outbreak

Photographer: Sam Yeh / AFP / Getty Images

Taiwan’s health authorities have implemented their broadest lockdown measures to date in an effort to prevent a growing outbreak of Covid-19 from spiraling out of control.

Patients, caregivers and medical staff at a hospital in northern Taoyuan City, at the center of a growing epidemic, will need to be quarantined at home for 14 days from now, said. Taiwanese Minister of Health Chen Shih-chung at a briefing in Taipei on Sunday. It would also include everyone they live with, and the number of people involved could total up to 5,000, Chen said.

The order covers anyone who entered the hospital between January 6 and January 19. Anyone affected will need to continue to monitor their health for an additional seven days and take a Covid test after leaving quarantine.

The latest measures are the toughest measures taken to date by health officials as they struggle to contain the virus after it began to spread at Taoyuan General Hospital in northern Taiwan at the start of the year. month. The epidemic poses the biggest threat to Taiwan’s largely successful response to the coronavirus pandemic so far.

Taiwan has only recorded 889 cases and seven total deaths since the start of the pandemic, but authorities have reported a steady stream of local hospital-related infections in recent weeks. Earlier today, Chen said there were five new cases on Sunday, one of which was a man who remained in hospital several weeks ago, plus a family member.