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TAIPEI: Taiwan reported on Tuesday (December 22) its first locally transmitted COVID-19 case in more than eight months.
The local case is a woman, who is friends with a New Zealand pilot who was confirmed to be infected earlier this week, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said at a press conference.
The woman is in her 30s and had close contact with the pilot, who was confirmed to have been infected Sunday after flying on flights to the United States.
Chen said the New Zealand citizen had not properly reported all his contacts and the list of places he had been, and could be in violation of Taiwan’s communicable disease law.
The government has published a list of places he went in and around Taipei, telling people that they may have been there to check on his health.
The pilot, who faces a fine of up to NT $ 300,000 (US $ 10,600), visited several stores, including a department store, authorities say.
According to a Facebook post from the Health Ministry, they were in contact from December 7 to 12. She was also in contact with 167 people, of whom 13 have been quarantined.
Taiwanese tech firm Quanta Storage Inc said the woman was an employee of a subsidiary and that contacts that had been tested so far had tested negative for the virus.
The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) last reported a locally transmitted COVID-19 case on April 12.
The island also reported three more imported COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. Since the pandemic began, Taiwan has reported 771 COVID-19 cases and seven deaths.
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Separately, the government said it would cut the number of flights to Britain in half, to just one a week, after a new, highly infectious strain of coronavirus was found in the country.
Those arriving in Taiwan from Great Britain, or who have been in Great Britain in the past 14 days, will also need to be quarantined for 14 days in centralized quarantine facilities.
Earlier this month, Singapore said it would lift border restrictions for visitors to Taiwan from December 18.
Travelers can apply for a single entry Air Travel Pass (ATP) to enter Singapore, the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority said, adding that they must be in Taiwan for 14 consecutive days prior to departure.
Upon arrival, visitors will undergo a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and, if the result is negative, they will be allowed to continue their activities in Singapore without providing a stay-at-home notice.
As part of the contact tracing process, Taiwan travelers must download and register for the TraceTogether app on their mobile devices before entering Singapore and keep it activated during their stay. They should not delete it for 14 consecutive days after leaving Singapore.
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