Taiwan reports two local COVID-19 cases

TAIPEI, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan reported two local COVID-19 cases on Friday, the local epidemic monitoring agency said.

This broke the island's record of no local cases in two and a half months.

The two cases were tied to an Indonesian cargo pilot, who works for an airline in Taiwan. The pilot flew to Australia on Tuesday and soon tested positive for COVID-19.

The island's epidemic monitoring agency immediately launched an investigation into the pilot's recent movements and contacts in Taiwan. Among the contacts, two have tested positive for the virus.

One of the two cases is an Indonesian teenager who is a relative of the pilot and has no recent history of international travel. The other is a colleague of the pilot.

A preliminary investigation also showed that all the three persons had been involved in group activities at the Taipei Mosque. Whether they were part of a cluster infection is yet to be determined.

Until now, Taiwan has recorded 1,090 cases of COVID-19. Of the total, 1,044 have recovered, 11 have died and 35 are in hospital.