https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4210169
300 confirmed cases still unaccounted for in Taipei, New Taipei
146 COVID-positive patients unaccounted for in Taipei, 164 in New Taipei
By Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2021/05/25 18:31
(Taiwan News) — The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) has lost contact with over 300 confirmed coronavirus patients after they tested positive for COVID-19
At a press conference on Tuesday (May 25), CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) revealed that although many positive cases have been contacted, there are still over 300 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 whom health officials have been unable to reach. He called on both Taipei and New Taipei officials to work with police on tracking down these individuals.
Given the limited number of hospital beds, people who have a mild case of the disease are to be housed in quarantine centers to ride out their illness. Chen said that according to the latest statistics, Taipei City quarantine centers have taken in 373 patients, while New Taipei facilities are housing 757.
Due to the rapid speed at which hotels in New Taipei are being converted to quarantine facilities, Chen said it should soon have adequate capacity to handle all new patients. He said that New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) had briefed him that morning on the rapid progress of setting up quarantine hotels and placing patients.
Chen said that the proportion of patients who have been notified of their positive test results and placed in quarantine is rising. However, he conceded that there are still 146 patients in Taipei and 164 in New Taipei who officials have been unable to contact.
He said this number is unacceptably high and expressed hopes that officials in Taipei and New Taipei will coordinate with police in finding these patients and put them in quarantine as soon as possible.
The CECC head said that since the new outbreak began, Taiwan suffered from a severe shortage of quarantine facilities for all the newly confirmed patients. He emphasized that through the coordination of the central government and local governments, the capacity to quarantine new patients has risen significantly.
Given the massive influx of coronavirus patients, Chen said the most important tasks at this stage include managing the placement problem, getting in touch with unaccounted for patients, and reducing the amount of time it takes to contact patients.