[Taiwan sends out 1.1 million text messages after COVID cluster case] The Central Epidemic Command centre (CECC) sent out 1.1 million text messages Saturday (September 4) to warn people who might have visited the same locations at the same time as pilots in a suspected COVID-19 cluster. Earlier Saturday, EVA Air announced it was suspending flights to and from Chicago and sacking a COVID-positive pilot for failing to provide correct information about his condition. The CECC said that beginning at 2:30 p.m. that day, it would send the texts to those who might have gone to the same places as the COVID cases between August 13 and September 2, CNA reported. If recipients of the text messages showed symptoms of a coronavirus infection after August 13, they should have their health evaluated and get tested, the message recommended. There is no need to be anxious about receiving the message, CECC chief Chen Shih-chung said. One pilot met with friends at two restaurants in Zaoqiao, Miaoli County, on the evening of August 28, after having visited relatives in Toufen Township. A total of 19 people, including friends and restaurant staff, tested negative for the virus, the local authorities said. A further 58 relatives of the main contacts have been put into preventive quarantine over fears the pilot’s COVID diagnosis might be the highly infectious delta variant. https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4281196
