Covid 19 coronavirus: Taiwan quarantines 5,000 after hospital cluster

Taiwan has been applauded for its swift and sustained efforts to contain Covid-19 over the past year. Photo / AP

Health authorities in Taiwan are quarantining 5,000 people while looking for the source of two new coronavirus cases linked to a hospital.

Taiwan officials said today that they have not been able to identify how the husband and wife became infected after a brief hospital stay in the Taoyuan General Hospital, located just outside Taiwan's capital city.

The man had stayed at the hospital for three days for health problems unrelated to Covid-19, while his wife looked after him.

Those asked to quarantine include patients who were discharged from the hospital between January 6-19, and their caregivers.

Taiwan is on higher alert after the latest domestic cluster, which has now seen 15 cases linked to the hospital.

Taiwan has been applauded for its swift and sustained efforts to contain Covid-19, with just seven deaths and fewer than 900 confirmed cases, despite its close proximity to China, where the pandemic began.