The quarantine hotel, which was originally regarded as a “big shield” by the command center, may now become a breach in epidemic prevention. The Taiwanese businessman in Zhejiang who was diagnosed on December 8 last year (Case 719) was sequenced by the virus gene. Almost the same as the confirmed case (Case 693) who lived in a quarantine hotel in Taipei City and entered Germany (Case 693), domestic infectious disease experts believe that this confirms that the Taiwanese businessmen in Zhejiang should have contracted the epidemic in the quarantine hotel.
The command center once said that “infected at the airport”
Case 719 went to Qia Gong in Zhejiang Province in mid-September last year. He returned to Taiwan on November 22 and was quarantined at an epidemic prevention hotel in Beishi. He stayed in a room on the third floor and developed symptoms on the twelfth day of his stay; because he left the mainland on the day There was an outbreak of mass infection at Shanghai Pudong Airport. At that time, the command center believed that the case should be infected at Pudong Airport on the grounds that “the epidemic prevention hotel was not confirmed”. Unexpectedly, it was accidentally discovered the next day. Case 693 had also stayed on the sixth floor of the same hotel. Controversy over whether it is a local infection.
The command center spokesperson Zhuang Renxiang judged at the time that after reporting to the anti-epidemic hotel, the quarantine personnel went to the room through the stairs. During the quarantine period, they used communication software to communicate with the hotel personnel. The food delivery point was placed at the door. People did not arrive at the hotel on the same day. One lived on the third floor and the other on the sixth floor. There was no possibility of contact. Fourteen staff members of the epidemic prevention hotel were also tested for viral nucleic acid and serum antibodies, and the results were all negative.
Chen Shizhong is low-key, “The two are very similar.”
When the command center commander Chen Shizhong was asked about the results of the virus comparison between the two at a regular press conference yesterday, his attitude was low-key, saying only that the genetic sequencing of the two should belong to the same series; as for whether the source of infection of the Taiwanese businessmen in Zhejiang is He did not want to talk more about the case of 693. He emphasized that the results of the inspections of the staff of the epidemic prevention hotel and those who stayed at the same time as the confirmed case were negative. “The two are very similar, but the case has been closed.”
Zhuang Renxiang said yesterday that on December 10 last year, the quarantine hotel environment was inspected. The doorknobs, telephones, remote controls, toilets, air-conditioning outlets and stairwells on the first, third and sixth floors of the public areas were inspected. All are negative.
Expert: Viral genetic similarity means clustering
“The virus sequence is the same as the problem with the epidemic prevention hotel. One person and one room is not a panacea.” Huang Limin, the director of the National Taiwan University Children’s Hospital, who had raised doubts about infection control in epidemic prevention hotels at the time, believes that the RNA virus changes rapidly. “It does not rule out that air-conditioning spreads to the cause.
Huang Limin pointed out that although the staff or those who stayed at the same time as the confirmed cases were negative, it cannot be ruled out that an infected guest who is neither an anti-epidemic hotel employee nor a hotel guest has contact with two confirmed cases at the same time, causing an epidemic. “There are cases in the community, and Taiwan will continue to export cases.”
Have common contacts? Ever shared items?
According to Zhang Ke, the attending physician at the Department of Infectious Medicine at Kaohsiung Xiaogang Hospital, the case may not have been infected in a hotel. If the infection occurs in a hotel, “compared with common contacts, there is a high probability that the two have shared things.”