PublishTime：2020-03-23

On March 23, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced 26 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Taiwan, with 25 being imported and the other 1 being indigenous. Among the 25 imported cases, 13 patients are women and 12 are men, with their ages ranging between under 5 and 79 years old. These patients entered Taiwan between March 15 and March 21 and displayed symptoms between February 22 and March 21. The countries these patients had traveled to before the onset of disease include France, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. With respect to the imported cases, most of the patients went overseas for travel or work, and five clusters of cases were identified.With respect to the only indigenous case confirmed today, the patient is an over-30-year-old female (Case #186). The female patient lives with Case #168, and is a contact of Case #168 which has been linked to a cluster in a research institution. She developed symptoms on March 17. As Case #124 was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 20 and Case #168 also developed symptoms, Case #186 sought medical attention on her own and was tested for coronavirus on March 20. Infection with COVID-19 was laboratory-confirmed in the case on March 23. The patients is the fifth person in the cluster involving the research institution to be diagnosed with COVID-19.