Taiwan recorded its 427th case of COVID-19 on Thursday. The patient is a member of the armed forces who served aboard the naval vessel Panshi during a recent mission. He is the 29th member of that mission’s crew to test positive so far.
The Panshi was part of a fleet that left Taiwan on February 21. It docked in the Pacific nation of Palau from March 12-15 as part of a goodwill mission.
In late March, the first crew members started to show symptoms. However, most of those infected while onboard were asymptomatic, and so were unaware they might have COVID-19. Several of them visited public spaces before learning they were infected. Health authorities say they came into contact with 1,237 people, all of whom have either been told to self-isolate or to monitor their health.
Both President Tsai and the defense minister have apologized for the handling of the outbreak.
Meanwhile, two navy admirals have been removed from their posts for negligence that led to the outbreak. One of them -- the fleet commander -- failed to report all cases of fever on board. He says that’s because the medical officer ruled that they were cases of the common cold.