Скачать или смотреть 41 workers at Taipei’s Huannan Market test positive for COVID

Forty-one workers at Taipei''s Huannan Market have tested positive for COVID-19. This was the result of mass PCR testing of 2,786 workers at the market. The cases were immediately sent to quarantine hotels, as contact tracing got underway. With 66 cases from before, the market now has more than 100 infections. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said such a community cluster was to be expected since the COVID outbreak in Wanhua''s tea parlor district. Huannan Market will be closed for three days starting Friday for a full disinfection.

Chemical warfare troops are at it early in the morning, leaving no corner untouched. Huannan Market is temporarily closed, and large-scale disinfection is underway.

A round of PCR testing the day before had found 41 positives, among 2,786 vendors. News of the cluster caught some vendors off guard, as they arrived at the market to open up Friday morning.

The city government said PCR results only came out late on Thursday. With time of the essence, it sent out emergency notifications in the early morning.

Huang Shan-shan
Taipei deputy mayor
All the workers at this venue, including the porters, were asked to go in for testing. The tests show that there are about 41 cases, including two in the poultry market. A few of them are market stall workers. More of them are workers on the outside.

Factoring in 66 cases from before, Huannan Market now has more than 100 infections. All newly diagnosed cases were sent to a quarantine hotel, and contact tracing is underway. Huannan Market will close for three days for disinfection.

Around noon, the central and local governments announced that they’ll install a COVID “command post” on-site.

Chen Shih-chung
CECC
The two sides will jointly establish a command post, to tackle this problem together. The first will be inside Huannan Market, and it will offer testing. We’ll start setting it up in the market this afternoon, so that people can get tested conveniently. This afternoon, we will issue an epidemic alert via mobile messaging. If you receive a text message, you should contact a public health center if you experience any symptoms, and get tested as soon as possible.

The central and local governments are working together to investigate the outbreak, in hopes of finding and isolating all close contacts by Saturday.

Chen Shih-chung
CECC
We must continue to set up testing stations. People nearby can all go to get tested. And we want to lodge a special appeal – epidemic investigation takes time. We want people involved in activities related to Huannan Market to temporarily stay in place.

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said that since the COVID outbreak in Wanhua’s tea parlor district, the city has been expecting smaller community clusters, such as the recent outbreaks at wholesale markets.