Taiwan has reported its first locally-transmitted case of Covid-19 after eight months, ending a 253-day streak since April 12.
According to Reuters and Taiwanese media Central News Agency (CNA), the case in question is a friend of a pilot from New Zealand who had already been confirmed to be infected with Covid-19.
Meanwhile, 167 people who have had direct contact with the new locally-transmitted case are currently being tested.
The New Zealander himself had tested positive on Dec. 20, following his return on a cargo flight which he had operated from the U.S. on Dec. 16, Focus Taiwan reported.
Pilot from New Zealand did not correctly report all of his contacts
In addition, Taiwan's Health Minister Chen Shih-chung highlighted that the pilot had not correctly reported all of his contacts and locations that he had visited.
As such, there is a possibility that he may have breached Taiwan's communicable diseases law, Chen added.
Taiwan's government has since put out a list of places that the pilot visited in and around Taipei, urging members of the public who have been to these locations to monitor their health.
Did the pilot show symptoms as early as Dec. 12?
A spokesperson for Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), Chuang Jen-hsiang, also raised the possibility that the pilot could have been showing symptoms as early as Dec. 12, when he flew the cargo flight to the U.S..
Citing the pilot's colleagues, Chuang said the New Zealander had been coughing on the flight but did not wear a mask.
He also denied having symptoms during the flight, with Chuang adding that this could be due to different understandings of Covid-19 symptoms.
The CECC has since posited that the pilot became infected during an earlier trip to the U.S. from Taiwan, which was undertaken from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4.
He is also believed to have infected his Taiwanese and Japanese colleagues who were on the flights with him on Dec. 12 and Dec. 16, with the CECC still deciding as to whether both of them should be counted as domestic or imported cases.
Three other imported cases reported along with community case
Thus far, Taiwan has reported a total of 771 Covid-19 cases..
Apart from the locally-transmitted case, three imported cases from the Philippines were also reported on Dec. 22.
Of the 771 cases, 627 have recovered, 132 are in hospital while seven have died.
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