There Is A Rare COVID-19 Outbreak, Taiwan Evacuated Hundreds Of People From Airport Hotels

Evacuation illustration. (Unsplash / Bernard Hermant)

JAKARTA - Taiwanese authorities began evacuating more than 400 people from one of the airport hotels to a centralized quarantine facility, Thursday, April 29, after a rare domestic COVID-19 outbreak followed by sterilization steps for all hotels buildings.

Taiwan has controlled the pandemic well because of early and effective prevention, including closing most of its borders. Most of the cases have been imported from abroad, although the island has reported sporadic domestic infections in recent months.

Since last week, Taiwan reported COVID-19 infections in nine cargo pilots of Taiwan's largest airline, China Airlines Ltd., some of whom have stayed at the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel, are now evacuated. They are thought to have been infected overseas.

Taiwan Health Minister Chen Shih-Chung said that an infected hotel worker was in intensive care. Along with this incident, the government decided to move all 412 people at the airport hotel, including pilots and staff, to a centralized quarantine facility for testing.

"The hotel is being thoroughly sterilized. We are concerned that other workers may also be infected," Chen said, as reported by Reuters, Thursday, April 29.

China Airlines, which had to cancel several flights while its pilots were tested, said it was complying with all government epidemic prevention measures. In addition, they will increase vaccinations for staff.

"During the pandemic, the virus is everywhere, and China Airlines will not stop for a moment", the airline said in a statement.

To note, the number of cases of COVID-19 infection in Taiwan remains very small, compared to some other parts of the world, with only 58 people being hospitalized. To date, 1,122 cases have been reported, including 12 deaths.