On March 12, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced six new confirmed imported cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Taiwan. Those six new cases arrived in Taiwan from the United States (Case #980), the Philippines (Cases #981, #984, and #985), France (Case #982), and the United Kingdom (Case #983).

Case #980 is an over 20-year-old Mexican man living in the United States. The Mexican man was diagnosed with COVID-19 on January 22. After he tested negative twice on February 6 and February 8, respectively, he traveled to Taiwan for work on February 13. He visited to the hospital to take a self-paid test on March 10. Infection with COVID-19 was laboratory-confirmed in the case on March 12 (the CT value was 31; he tested negative after given an RT-PCR test the next day, and he tested negative for IgM and positive for IgG antibodies).

Case #981 is an over 30-year-old male migrant worker from the Philippines. The Philippine migrant worker came to Taiwan for work on February 17. He completed the self-health management period on March 10. Due to work requirements, his labor broker arranged for him to take a self-paid test. Infection with COVID-19 was laboratory-confirmed in the case on March 12 (the CT value was 30; he was given tests the next day, and the CT value was 34, and he tested negative for IgM and positive for IgG antibodies).

Case #982 is an over 50 year-old man from France. The French man traveled to Taiwan for work on January 12. As he planned to return to his home country, he visited the hospital to take a self-paid test on March 10. Infection with COVID-19 was laboratory-confirmed in the case on March 12 (the CT value was 32; he was given tests the next day, and the CT value was 34, and he tested positive for both IgM and IgG antibodies).

Case #983 is an over 40-year-old male from the United Kingdom. The British man was diagnosed with COVID-19 on January 1. He visited Taiwan for work on March 10. He was given a COVID-19 test on March 11, and infection with COVID-19 was laboratory-confirmed in the case on March 12 (the CT value was 39, and he tested positive for both IgM and IgG antibodies).

Case #984 and Case #985 are two Philippine men in their 20s. The two Philippine nationals traveled to Taiwan for work on February 17. Due to work requirements, they visited the hospital to take a self-paid test on March 11. Infection with COVID-19 was laboratory-confirmed in the cases on March 12 (the CT values were 32 and 34, respectively; they were given RT-PCR tests the next day, and they both tested negative. Case #984 tested negative for IgM and positive for IgG antibodies while Case #985 tested positive for total antibodies but tested negative for both IgM and IgG antibodies).

The CECC reported that a cumulative total of 180,357 cases related to COVID-19 have been reported in Taiwan among which COVID-19 has been ruled out in 178,121. Of these reported cases, infection with COVID-19 was laboratory-confirmed in 984 cases. Of the 984 confirmed cases, 868 are imported; 77 are indigenous; 36 are naval crew members aboard the Panshi fast combat support ship; 2 are infections on an aircraft; 1 case has unknown sources of infection; and 1 case (Case #530) has been removed (Case #530 is not assigned to any patients). Of the confirmed cases, there have been 10 deaths, and 942 patients have been released from isolation, with the other 32 patients remaining hospitalized in isolation.