Scientist COVID positive after exposure in Taipei P3 lab

科學家在台北 P3 實驗室暴露後確診新冠病毒

Preliminary assessment is woman contracted Delta variant at Academia Sinica BSL-3 lab in Taipei's Nangang District


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A researcher in a high safety level laboratory in Taipei has tested positive for COVID and may have contracted the disease while experimenting on the virus.

During an emergency press conference on Thursday evening (Dec. 9), Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) confirmed that a female laboratory researcher in Taipei City tested positive for COVID. Chen identified her as a case No. 16,816, a woman in her 20s, who works at the Academia Sinica's Genomics Research Center.

Chen said she was "exposed to the pathogen" in mid-November while working at the Academia Sinica's Institute of Biomedical Sciences (IBMS), a P3 (Biosafety Level-3) facility located in Taipei's Nangang District. However, he said that she did not experience symptoms early on.

On Nov. 26, she had a light cough, and her coughing intensified on Dec. 4. She then had problems with her sense of smell and taste on Wednesday (Dec. 8).

That same day, she underwent a PCR test and the result came back positive for COVID on Thursday (Dec. 9). People familiar with the matter told ETtoday that her Ct value was very low, indicating a fresh infection.

The health department has begun contact tracing for more than 85 people who have been listed as contacts thus far. An epidemiological investigation is underway and places where the woman recently visited are being identified and notified to take epidemic prevention measures.

CECC Spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that because the woman had not recently traveled abroad or come in contact with confirmed cases, the preliminary assessment is the woman contracted the disease while experimenting on the virus in the lab. It is therefore being considered a local case, the first in 35 days.

According to Chen, she had received two doses of the Moderna vaccine, indicating she will likely be categorized as a breakthrough case. She has been confirmed to have contracted the Delta variant of the virus.

Chuang said this appears to be the first case of a P3 lab staff member infected with COVID in Taiwan. In addition, CECC advisor Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳), who had visited Academia Sinica prior to the press conference to obtain more details of the incident, said that the woman had recently been bitten by a mouse in the lab prior to testing positive for COVID, but he could not yet confirm if that was how she had been infected with the virus.