The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported five imported cases of COVID-19 and no new locally transmitted cases or deaths.
The five were arrivals from Eswatini, Russia, South Africa, Vietnam and the US, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
All have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine; one tested positive in Vietnam and returned to Taiwan on a medical charter flight, while the other four tested positive upon ending quarantine, CECC data showed.
“We are happy to see zero new local cases today, but we also observed the daily case counts for the whole month of August,” Chen said.
“Aside from a few days in which about eight or nine local cases were reported in a cluster of infections, the daily case count of local infections remained below five,” he said.
“The average daily count of local infections was 2.5 cases last month, which is a good sign, and we hope the situation will continue,” Chen said.
Asked about disease prevention efforts among the public over the four-day Mid-Autumn Festival long weekend, Chen said that some people were seen eating while walking in night markets, but those reports were less than for people seen not wearing a mask on beaches.
“We will need to collect more data to determine whether actions such as these have affected the local COVID-19 situation,” he added.
The center does not plan to tighten restrictions, despite tourist attractions being crowded over the long weekend, Chen said.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesperson, said surveys show that COVID-19 vaccination intention rates among high-school students are above 94 percent.
The surveys were conducted among students at schools in Taipei and New Taipei City asking about their willingness to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with vaccinations to begin on high-school campuses across Taiwan today, Chuang said.
The New Taipei City Government plans to complete its vaccination program on high-school campuses within a week, while Taipei plans to finish within two weeks, he said.
Meanwhile, the deadline for people to book a vaccination appointment for a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or a second dose of the Medigen vaccine in the ninth round of the national vaccination program ends at noon today, the CECC said.
As of 5pm yesterday, 83.9 percent of eligible recipients for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had booked an appointment and 72.4 percent of eligible recipients for the Medigen vaccine had booked an appointment, CECC data showed.
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