• Kuan-Yin Lin, Sung-Ching Pan, Jann-Tay Wang, Chi-Tai Fang, Chun-Hsing Liao, Chien-Yu Cheng, Shu-Hui Tseng, Chin-Hui Yang, Yee-Chun Chen, and Shan-Chwen Chang.
• Center for Infection Control, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
• J Formos Med Assoc. 2024 Jan 1; 123 Suppl 1: S27S38S27-S38.

AbstractCOVID-19 has exposed major weaknesses in the healthcare settings. The surge in COVID-19 cases increases the demands of health care, endangers vulnerable patients, and threats occupational safety. In contrast to a hospital outbreak of SARS leading to a whole hospital quarantined, at least 54 hospital outbreaks following a COVID-19 surge in the community were controlled by strengthened infection prevention and control measures for preventing transmission from community to hospitals as well as within hospitals. Access control measures include establishing triage, epidemic clinics, and outdoor quarantine stations. Visitor access restriction is applied to inpatients to limit the number of visitors. Health monitoring and surveillance is applied to healthcare personnel, including self-reporting travel declaration, temperature, predefined symptoms, and test results. Isolation of the confirmed cases during the contagious period and quarantine of the close contacts during the incubation period are critical for containment. The target populations and frequency of SARS-CoV-2 PCR and rapid antigen testing depend on the level of transmission. Case investigation and contact tracing should be comprehensive to identify the close contacts to prevent further transmission. These facility-based infection prevention and control strategies help reduce hospital transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to a minimum in Taiwan.Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.

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