A worker at a high-security laboratory tested positive for coronavirus. She is the island’s first local case in more than a month. There will be an investigation into a possible new COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan. All of this is due to a mouse bite. This week, a female lab worker in her twenties tested positive for COVID-19. She had come into contact with the virus while working at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top research institute, last month. According to the island’s health minister, who spoke at a hastily organized press conference on Thursday evening.
The infected worker has no recent travel history. Not only this, but also she is completely immune with 2 doses of Moderna vaccination. The infection most likely is a Delta variant of Sars-Cov-2. Another senior official at the briefing confirms the news. Local media reports that the worker had been bitten by a laboratory mouse infected with COVID-19. But saying more research is needed to determine whether the bite was the source of the transmission.
The lab case puts in jeopardy Taiwan’s hard-won success in eradicating COVID-19 outbreaks
The lab case puts in jeopardy Taiwan’s hard-won success in eradicating COVID-19 outbreaks. Also, highlights the difficulty of eliminating the pathogen. A goal that some places Including mainland China and Hong Kong are still pursuing. Health officials have quarantined 94 people who have had contact with the infected lab worker since she became ill. They are mostly colleagues and close friends.
Taiwan last confirmed a local case on November 5th, before Thursday’s infection. While strict entry and quarantine measures remain in place at the border, the government has gradually eased restrictions on businesses and entertainment in recent months, and domestic activity has returned to normal. It has reported over 14,500 domestic COVID-19 cases and 848 deaths since the pandemic began. The Genomic Research Centre at Academica Sinica, where the latest patient worked, is one of Taiwan’s 18 Biosafety Level-3 laboratories, the second-highest security rating.
