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Taiwan reported 24 new coronavirus cases on Monday, almost all of whom are sailors who had been on a friendly visit of Taiwan navy ships to the small Pacific island state of Palau last month.
Taiwan on Sunday said 700 navy personnel were being quarantined and tested and there were 24 positive cases altogether. Of those, three cadets had been to Palau, a small Pacific island country, and one of the last states in the world yet to report a coronavirus case.
The three cadets were the first diagnosed cases of infections, who aboard a naval vessel tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease Saturday, according to Taiwan's epidemic monitoring agency.
The three men, all in their 20s, boarded the naval vessel on February 21 and returned to Taiwan on April 15 after nearly 30 days of sailing and a short stop at Palau from March 12 to 15, the agency said in a press release.
They showed symptoms from early April to April 13 during the voyage and visited the hospital after landing on Taiwan, the statement said. Taiwanese health official Chen Shih-chung said further investigations were needed before they could determine where exactly they were infected.
Taiwan has to date been relatively successful at controlling the novel coronavirus through a focus on early prevention and detection.
Palau closed its borders as a pre-emptive measure a month ago as cases rose sharply among its neighbors.
Palau Health Minister Emais Roberts said on Monday the government would stay in touch with Taiwan during its investigation into the outbreak, which was most likely a "ship cluster" contained within that vessel.
More than a month had passed since the ships visited, he said, and no-one in Palau has tested positive or shown any symptoms of the coronavirus.
"There is little chance that the virus on the vessels came from Palau," he said in a statement. "There is no reason for us in Palau to panic."
Palau last week started its own domestic testing program with the help of Taiwanese lab experts and equipment purchased from Taipei and transported by fishing boat.
In an interview with Reuters, Palau's President Tommy Remengesau said he was prepared to keep borders closed for "as long as necessary" to keep the virus out of the country of 20,000 people.
The leader of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen had been at the ceremony to welcome back the ships but had only waved to the sailors from the shore and had not been exposed, her office said.
The total number of infections has been taken to 422 on Monday, with six deaths.
(With input from Reuters)
