Taipei, July 15 (CNA) American membership-only wholesale club Costco and Swedish furniture supplier IKEA closed their stores in
Neihu district, Taipei, on Thursday for disinfection after the two retailers were informed that a customer who tested positive for COVID-19 recently visited the outlets.
The two retailers said the temporary store closures were requested by the Taipei City Government's Department of Health to contain the virus spread at a time when Taiwan is still trying to contain an outbreak of domestically transmitted cases that began in mid-May.
According to local media reports, a person who was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 visited the Costco Neihu store on July 10 and then went to the nearby Ikea store. On the next day, this person visited the Ikea store again.
Costco said soon after it received a notice Thursday morning from health authorities about the visit by the COVID-19 affected customer, it decided on the one-day closure to protect its employees and customers and to meet the guidance from the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
The American retailer said it conducts massive and thorough disinfection for all of its outlets around Taiwan once a week.
For its part, IKEA said it was informed Wednesday of the visit by the COVID-19 affected person and immediately launched massive disinfection for the Neihu store and pulled down any fabric items which could be touched by visitors to prevent infections.
Before carrying out the latest disinfection in the Neihu outlet, IKEA said it already conducted regular disinfection for all of its stores nationwide.
It said it will continue to take the temperature for every visitor before they enter the stores and remind them to keep a social distance as preventive measures against infections.
According to Taipei City's Department of Environmental Protection, the areas outside the two stores have also been disinfected.
