The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 23 locally transmitted COVID-19 infections and one death, while saying that it might soon allow people under the age of 50 to register for vaccines.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the local cases, 13 males and 10 females, began experiencing symptoms between June 20 and Sunday, and nine of them tested positive during or upon ending quarantine.
New Taipei City reported 10 cases, followed by Taipei with nine, and Hsinchu City, Keelung, Taichung and Taoyuan with one case each, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
The infection sources of 17 of the cases have been identified, while four remain unclear and two are under investigation, he said.
The effective reproductive number, or the average number of secondary cases per infectious case, has remained under one for three consecutive weeks, indicating that the COVID-19 situation is under control, he said.
“Unless large cluster infections occur in the future, the daily case count is likely to remain the same as now, or possibly gradually decline,” Chen said, adding that the number of confirmed cases has been between 20 and 40 in the past week.
The CECC yesterday also reported the death of a man in his 60s who had underlying health conditions and tested positive for COVID-19 on May 20.
He was released from isolation and discharged from hospital on June 11, but died of other causes on Saturday, the center said.
Meanwhile, the deadline for the ninth and 10th COVID-19 vaccination priority groups to register on the national online vaccination booking system was 5pm yesterday, if they wanted to be included in the next round of inoculations using the AstraZeneca vaccine.
As of 5pm yesterday, 2,848,778 people had registered to be vaccinated, the CECC said.
Given a choice of vaccine, 82,874 people (2.91 percent) chose only AstraZeneca, 1,711,681 people (60.08 percent) chose only Moderna, and 1,054,223 people (37.01 percent) selected both, the center said.
After the center announced on Sunday afternoon that the AstraZeneca vaccine would likely be the only vaccine available in the next three weeks, 170,655 people edited their registration data and selected AstraZeneca, Chen said.
If there is sufficient supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but fewer eligible recipients who are willing to receive it, the center would expand eligibility to people younger than 50, allowing them to register on the online system soon, he said.
Regarding public concerns about not being able to receive a second dose of the Moderna vaccine due to insufficient supply, Chen said that people in the first priority group, local airline crew members and pregnant women who have received the first dose, would be eligible to receive the second dose 28 days after the first.
Other people would be eligible to receive the second dose 10 to 12 weeks after the first, he said, adding that the policy might be modified depending on vaccine supplies.
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