TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan will more than double the number of people quarantined at home to more than 5,000 as it attempts to contain a rare domestic cluster of COVID-19 connected to a hospital, the health minister said Sunday .
While Taiwan has kept the pandemic well under control thanks to early and effective prevention, with the vast majority of the 890 infections imported, it has had to deal with a small number of domestic transmissions in a hospital since January 12.
Although the 15 people so far infected in the hospital in the northern city of Taoyuan are small compared to many other parts of the world, it has made the government nervous, which has canceled many large-scale events related to the coming Lunar New Year .
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told reporters that they will increase the number of people who will be quarantined for 14 days who may have had contact with the infected patients from the hospital cluster.
He estimated the number at about 5,000 people, compared to about 1,300 currently in quarantine.
The government has already tested those who have been in quarantine and has announced new cases among them as soon as they are confirmed.
Taiwan has a well-honed system to track those who have been in contact with confirmed cases and an electronic monitoring network to ensure that those in quarantine stay at home.
Despite the new infections, only 95 active cases are treated in hospital in Taiwan. The government holds news conferences to reveal the details of each new infection.
Reporting by Ben Blanchard; edited by David Evans