On January 18, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced one new confirmed indigenous case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Taiwan. The new indigenous case, Case #863, is a professional nurse working at the same hospital as Case #838. This new case was given a COVID-19 test on January 12, and the test result came back negative. The nurse began to experience nasal congestion and coughing on January 14. Because the nurse had been identified as a contact of Case #856, the nurse was tested again on January 17; infection with COVID-19 was laboratory-confirmed in the case on January 18.
In response to this nosocomial infection incident, CECC has imposed the following disease prevention and control measures on the hospital:
1. The CECC has designated personnel to set up an incident command post in the hospital;
2. The wards where the case had been working have been closed, and patients in the wards have been moved to single-room isolation wards; the areas where the case had been active have been disinfected and will be open after the testing of environmental samples confirms those areas are safe;
3. The floors where the case had been working have been cleared of people and are strictly restricted;
4. Experts will be arranged to go in and to provide guidance and assistance on nosocomial infection prevention and control measures;
5. Hospitalized patients can only leave the hospital but cannot return; all visits to the hospital have been cancelled, and only one person can accompany a patient and the person shall provide his or her real name;
6. Hospital staff members are urged to conduct self-health management, and they shall notify the health authority of their symptoms and return to the hospital for medical attention as instructed if they develop mild symptoms; hospital staff may not seek medical care by themselves.
The CECC reported that a cumulative total of 137,512 cases related to COVID-19 have been reported in Taiwan among which COVID-19 has been ruled out in 135,321. Of these reported cases, infection with COVID-19 was laboratory-confirmed in 862 cases. Of the 862 confirmed cases, 762 are imported; 61 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 7 deaths, and 756 patients have been released from isolation, with the other 99 patients remaining hospitalized in isolation.