It’s Taiwan’s first domestic infection in more than a month
An investigation into a possible new covid-19 outbreak is underway in Taiwan after a lab worker was bitten by a mouse.
The scientist, a woman in her 20s, tested positive this week after coming into contact with the virus during her work at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top research institute, in mid-November.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung announced the news in a briefing on Thursday evening. The lab worker had not travelled abroad recently and had received both doses of the Moderna vaccine.
At the briefing, Shih-chung confirmed that she had been bitten on two separate occasions by a laboratory mouse infected with covid but said further investigation was needed to determine whether the bites had been the source of the virus’s transmission. Authorities believe she is likely infected with the Delta variant.
Taiwan has been largely successful in controlling covid-19 throughout the pandemic, having recorded just 14,500 cases and 848 deaths since the start it started in early 2020.
The country’s last confirmed local case was on November 5, something that has been achieved thanks to tough border control and quarantine measures.
Bloomberg reports that health authorities in the country have so far identified 94 people who came into contact with the lab worker since she was infected. They have all been placed in quarantine, with 80 of them since testing negative.
Because of this, the Health Minister said it is unlikely the lab worker’s infection will trigger a new widespread outbreak.
The scientist resigned from her job earlier this month.
The laboratory’s website says that research at the facility includes collecting and propagating pathogens, cell-based microbiological and immunological tests and evaluating the efficacy of vaccines and adjuvants in small animal models.
The risk of animals spreading covid-19 is considered to be low, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Since the pandemic started, there is no evidence that animals have played a significant role in spreading covid, said the CDC.
Though rare, there are some cases of covid passing between animals and humans. Earlier this year, a pet dog caught covid from its owner in the first case if its kind in the UK.
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