Alert in Taiwan after lab worker bitten twice by mouse with Covid becomes coronavirus positive

In a possible new Covid outbreak in Taiwan, a mouse bite is at the centre of a probe as a worker at a high-security laboratory, who was bitten twice, has become coronavirus positive.    

It is the island’s first local confirmed case in over a month. The worker, who is a woman in her 20s, tested positive for Covid this week.   

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At a briefing on Thursday evening, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said, the woman seems to have come in contact with the virus while working at Taiwan’s top research institute Academia Sinica in mid-November.  

The woman had not travelled abroad recently. She had also received two doses of Moderna vaccine.   

On Friday, in another briefing, Chen said that the woman had been bitten by a laboratory mouse infected with Covid on two separate occasions.  

The minister also said that further investigation was needed to determine whether the bites had resulted in the transmission of the virus. The authorities believe she has been infected with the Delta variant.    

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The authorities in health department have also identified 94 people, who came in contact with the worker after she was infected. They have been placed in quarantine.  

Around 80 have already tested negative. It may not trigger a new outbreak as most people have tested negative, Chen said on Friday.   

(With inputs from agencies)