Taipei — The confirmation on Tuesday of a Covid-19 infection cluster at the international airport near Taipei involving the contagious Omicron variant prompted a large scale disinfection there and tightened coronavirus control measures in northern Taiwan.
Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Centre (CECC) chief Chen Shih-chung on Tuesday told a news conference that three sanitation staff members and a quarantine taxi driver working at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have contracted the coronavirus and one of them carries the Omicron variant.
Chen said the remaining three cases are still under investigation.
For the cluster, Chen said authorities had been trying to trace down and test more than 500 people.
Chen also urged people visiting a market in Taoyuan County, where the airport sits, during the New Year holidays to contact health authorities for testing as the new Omicron patient was selling hair accessories there.
Chen also announced that there would be an immediate tightening of the related preventive and control measures in Taoyuan County, requiring people to wear masks all the time outdoors.
In November, Taiwan loosened measures, allowing people to conduct outdoor activities without a mask when social distancing is kept.
The CECC on Tuesday also announced 30 other coronavirus cases found in recent international arrivals.
As of Tuesday, Taiwan, an island of 23.6 million people, had recorded a total of 17,129 cases of Covid-19 and 850 fatalities.
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