Covid-19: Taiwan recorded its first community transmission since April, a case linked to an infected New Zealand pilot

Taiwan reported its first community-based case of Covid-19 since April, a person who had contact with an infected New Zealand pilot.

The 60-year-old New Zealand man lives in Taiwan and tested positive for the Coronavirus on December 20 after suffering symptoms during a cargo flight to the United States.

Chinese Health Minister Chen Shih-zhong said on Tuesday that the new case of a 30-year-old woman, who was a friend of him, was confirmed to have contracted a covid in Taiwan.

Chen told local media that the New Zealand citizen had not properly reported all his contacts and movements. Health officials were testing 167 people who had contact with the woman.

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Two people who flew with the pilot were also found injured.

The New Zealand Ministry of Health said, on Tuesday, that Taiwan authorities had not contacted it about the pilot.

The Taiwan Center for Disease Control reported a local case on April 12, when the country had 553 cases of Covid-19 and seven deaths.

Taiwan has been cited as a success story in how to respond to the epidemic, especially given its close trade and tourism ties with China, where the virus first appeared late last year.

And its success is partly attributed to work from very early on.

Taiwanese officials were examining passengers on flights from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the epidemic began, as early as December 31 for symptoms of fever and pneumonia, according to researchers in the JAMA Medical Journal.