Taiwan now has 67 cases of COVID-19. A case announced on Sunday was a high school student who returned from a vacation to Greece on March 5 and began attending classes without any symptoms. The school suspended his class for 14 days after he tested positive.
Students used to play the flute at school. But not anymore. That’s to prevent the possible spread of the new coronavirus. The teacher says now they keep a distance and just hum the songs rather than sing out loud.
One classroom is used by five or more classes a day so schools need to be vigilant about preventing an outbreak. They open the windows before class starts. When the class is over, they disinfect everything students touched, including tables, computer hard drives, keyboards and desktops.
The 59th COVID-19 case is a person who returned from Greece on March 5. That high school student brought the virus to school with him. Health Minister Chen Shih-chung explains, "He was in Greece from mid-January and returned on March 5 – quite a free and leisurely life he has. He went to many events. It’s very stressful to trace all the possible community infections."
National Taiwan University Pediatrician Huang Li-min says, "There will be major problems if cases with no symptoms spread the virus in the community. The Central Epidemic Command Center can only trace the contacts he remembers, but the student can’t remember everyone he’s come in contact with, such as people in the bathroom or at the student store."
So that class is out for 14 days and the school is being disinfected. If a second student is infected, class will be suspended for the whole school for two weeks. Students and teachers in New Taipei are now banned from traveling abroad until the end of June.