The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 23 local cases of COVID-19 and two deaths.
The cases are 19 men and four women, in their 20s to 50s, with an onset of symptoms between July 10 and Thursday, center data showed.
New Taipei City reported the most cases, 13, followed by Taipei and Taoyuan with four each, and Yilan County and Kaohsiung with one each, data showed.
Among the cases, 18 have known sources of infection, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said during a daily news conference in Taipei.
Over the past week, the daily number of cases with unclear or unknown sources of infection has been fewer than 10, allowing the government to downgrade the COVID-19 alert level, Chen said.
The two deaths are a woman in her 80s and a man in his 60s, both of whom had contacts with other confirmed cases as well as chronic illnesses, center data showed.
As of yesterday, the nation had reported 15,535 COVID-19 cases and 784 deaths, the data showed.
Of the 14,280 cases reported from May 11 to Wednesday, 87.5 percent have been discharged from isolation facilities, the data showed.
The center also shared the viral genome sequencing results for seven of the 31 imported cases reported from Saturday last week to Thursday.
Six are infected with the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, including two returning from Myanmar, two from Indonesia, and one each from Mauritania and the UK, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
The other person, infected with the Gamma variant, returned from Argentina via a transit flight in Brazil, he added.
The center has so far identified 35 infections of the Delta variant, including 23 imported and 12 local cases, Lo said, adding that the domestic cases were all linked to cluster infections in Pingtung County.
Other genome sequencing results for 18 local cases found that the Alpha variant remains the dominant source of domestic infections, he said.
As of Thursday, 24.94 percent of the nation’s population had been vaccinated against COVID-19, with 5.8 million people having received at least one dose, center data showed.
Separately yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a news release thanked the Czech government for considering donating COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan.
The statement came after Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil on Thursday wrote on Twitter that he had spoken with Czech Minister of Health Adam Vojtech and that he would “wait with slight optimism” for the result of a government meeting on Monday regarding the possibility of sending vaccines to Taiwan.
The ministry said it would respect the Czech government’s final decision.
OPTIMISTIC: The DGBAS sharply upgraded its GDP growth estimate from 3.54 percent to 7.71 percent after the Taiwan-US trade agreement signing and given AI optimism The US imported more from Taiwan than China for the first time in decades, as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs reshape trade flows while a global boom in artificial intelligence (AI) fuels demand for tech products. US purchases of goods from China plunged almost 44 percent in December last year from 2024 to US$21.1 billion, US Department of Commerce data showed on Thursday. By contrast, shipments from Taiwan more than doubled during the same period to US$24.7 billion. The soaring Taiwanese shipments to the US reflect the huge expansion in supplies of chips and servers for AI companies, which has completely changed
NON-NEGOTIABLE: The US president’s action ran counter to one of the US’ ‘six assurances’ on not consulting China about arms sales to Taiwan, US lawmakers said US President Donald Trump’s admission that he is discussing arms sales to Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is “alarming and a blatant violation of US policy and the six assurances,” US Representative Ro Khanna said on Tuesday. Trump on Monday said he would decide soon on whether to send more weapons to Taiwan, after Xi warned him not to do so. “I’m talking to him about it. We had a good conversation, and we’ll make a determination pretty soon,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked about warnings raised by Beijing during a phone call with Xi over
The Central Election Commission has amended election and recall regulations to require elected office candidates to provide proof that they have no Chinese citizenship, a Cabinet report said. The commission on Oct. 29 last year revised the Measures for the Permission of Family-based Residence, Long-term Residence and Settlement of People from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民在台灣地區依親居留長期居留或定居許可辦法), the Executive Yuan said in a report it submitted to the legislature for review. The revision requires Chinese citizens applying for permanent residency to submit notarial documents showing that they have lost their Chinese household record and have renounced — or have never
US and Chinese fighter jets briefly faced off above waters near the Korean Peninsula this week, Yonhap News agency reported, marking a rare confrontation in that area between the two superpowers. About 10 US fighter jets on Wednesday departed an airbase in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, for drills above international waters off South Korea’s western coast, the news outlet cited unidentified military sources as saying. While the US planes did not enter China’s air defense identification zone, Beijing scrambled planes as they neared that region, the report said. “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army organized naval and air forces to monitor and effectively respond
RSS