Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung at the daily CECC news conference Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung at the daily CECC news conference (CNA photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan confirmed seven people as new Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases Saturday (April 4), taking the total for the country up to 355, including five earlier deaths and 50 patients who had returned home after treatment at hospitals.

The new imported cases numbered six in all, while one case was the result of local transmissions, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said at its daily news conference.

The only new local transmission was a man in his 40s with no history of foreign travel, so the cause of his infection was still unknown. Patient No.352 had developed a fever on March 30 and lost his sense of smell and taste on April 1, a common symptom of the coronavirus.

As to the imported cases, No. 350 was a man who had worked in the United States and returned to Taiwan on the same flight as two other patients, No. 197 and No. 202.

No. 355 was the third member of a tour group visiting Latin America to be diagnosed with the coronavirus. The two earlier ones were No. 259 and No. 331, the CECC said.

The others were No. 349, a man studying in Switzerland, No. 351, a woman studying in Germany, No. 353, a woman working in Great Britain, and No. 354, a woman working in the U.S.