TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei officials are searching for 10 people who watched the film "Black Widow" in the same auditorium as a confirmed COVID case at a popular movie theater in the heart of the city.

Taipei City Government spokesperson Wei Yu-jen (魏佑任) on Monday evening (July 26) stated that a COVID case (case No. 15,682) had watched a film at the Ambassador Theatres Spring Center on Changchun Road in Zhongshan District. Thus far, 12 employees who had been working at the time have undergone PCR testing, and health department officials are searching the real-name registration system for 10 moviegoers who were at the same showing as the confirmed case.

Wei announced that the theater would close for three days beginning Monday to carry out an extensive cleaning and disinfection of the entire facility. Health officials are still compiling the complete list of contacts for case No. 15,682.

The health department said the case had watched the Marvel Studios film "Black Widow" last Thursday (July 22) in the afternoon. On its Facebook page on Monday, Ambassador Theatres announced that its Spring Center branch would close until Thursday (July 29) and test its staff after being notified about the case by the health authorities.

The theater chain pledged to provide an automatic refund to customers who had booked tickets at the theater during those dates. It added that there would be no handling fees and apologized for the inconvenience