An outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infections among people living with HIV and its successful containment—Taiwan, May to August 2021

Abstract

In Taiwan, 14,308 locally acquired COVID-19 cases among customers and employees in Sexy Tea shops were the first cases from May 9–August 28, 2021 (weeks 19–34). Nine weeks after the community spread of COVID-19 began, the proportion of people living with HIV (PLHIV) among the COVID-19 patients peaked at 35.7%, affecting 192 HIV patients, while the prevalence of HIV infection was 0.15%. In addition to a nationwide Level 3 epidemic alert, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) launched four strategies to contain this outbreak among PLHIV in this prevaccine era, including improving the quality of contact tracing, delivering health information via peer navigators, expanding SARS-CoV-2 screening and encouraging vaccination, and addressing hesitancy. The outbreak of COVID-19 related to Alpha strain among PLHIV in 2021 ceased four weeks after peaking and lasted eight weeks.