Taiwan airport cluster infections rise to 12

TAIPEI, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) — Taiwan reported four new locally-transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total confirmed cases related to the Taoyuan International Airport cluster infections to 12, the island’s disease monitoring agency said.

The new COVID-19 cases include a female security guard working at the airport, as well as two members of a social club and the sister of one of the infected social club members, said the agency, adding that the close contacts of the confirmed cases are conducted screening tests.

Before the four cases were confirmed, eight local COVID-19 infections had been reported at the airport this week, including seven cleaners and a taxi driver tasked with taking passengers to and from quarantine facilities.

An infected cleaner who visited the social club’s premises every day from Dec. 29 to Jan. 2 is thought to be the source of the cluster infections.

Up to date, Taiwan has reported a total of 17,258 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

To cope with the new Omicron variant, the agency announced new details about the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, or the booster shot, reducing the required interval between the second vaccination jab and a booster shot from five months to about three.

The booster shot program, effective from Friday, will be eligible to anyone aged 18 and over who received their second COVID-19 jab a minimum of 12 weeks ago.

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