CORONAVIRUS/Taipei reverses decision on kindergarten shutdown after COVID case

Taipei, Oct. 11 (CNA) Taipei authorities have decided to suspend only two classes in a kindergarten for 14 days rather than the shutting the entire school down after a teacher at the school tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, according to the city.

In a statement Monday night, Taipei's Department of Health reversed its earlier decision to shut down all classes of the kindergarten for 14 days, because the school had effectively isolated different classes from each other as part of its virus prevention efforts.

Another factor in the change of heart was that only the two classes came in contact with the infected teacher on Oct. 8.

But the kindergarten will be closed Tuesday so that the city can take preventive measures, the department said.

The health department said in the statement that that 80 of the case's contacts are now required to quarantine themselves at home.

Of those, 42 are students and teachers and 38 are related family members. A total of 111 people at the school have received PCR tests for COVID-19, but no results were available as of Monday evening.

According to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), the infection was confirmed after a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken by the teacher on Oct. 9 came back positive with a cycle threshold (CT) value of 34.9, indicating a relatively low viral load.

The CECC said the high CT value meant it was likely the teacher had been infected for some time and was therefore less contagious. It noted that the teacher reported developing symptoms such as a cough in late May.

The teacher lives alone in Xizhi District in the city of New Taipei, and the city's mayor, Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), said the COVID-19 situation in New Taipei remained stable as the new case's high CT value indicated she was not contagious.