CECC says COVID-19 outbreak easing as Taiwan reports 351 new cases
ROC Central News Agency
05/31/2021 05:33 PM
Taipei, May 31 (CNA) Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) on Monday said the current COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan is easing, as the number of people each patient infects on average has fallen since mid-May.
Data as of Sunday shows that the Rt number in Taiwan, or the number of new infections caused by each individual patient, has fallen from a high of 15 in mid-May to 1.02, Chen said at a Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) press briefing.
The fall can be attributed to people closely following strict rules under the Level 3 COVID-19 alert, which was introduced in Taipei and New Taipei on May 15 and the rest of the country four days later, Chen said.
"The sacrifice and hard work everyone has put in has been effective," Chen said, and he urged people to continue following epidemic prevention measures so the Rt number can be reduced to less than one over the next two weeks.
Monday was the 17th consecutive day Taiwan has reported over 100 domestically-transmitted infections, with 347 such cases and four imported cases.
The domestic cases comprise 274 newly confirmed cases, plus 73 cases from a backlog of test results confirmed over the past week.
New Taipei reported 171 cases, the highest of any locality, followed by Taipei with 122, Taoyuan with 27 and Changhua County with 10.
Taichung confirmed five cases, Keelung and Miaoli County three each, Hsinchu two, while one each was recorded in Kaohsiung and the counties of Hualien, Hsinchu and Penghu.
The four imported COVID-19 cases were from India and South Africa, according to the CECC.
The 15 fatalities reported Monday were nine men and six women, aged 60-100, who died between May 21 and 29 in hospital, the CECC said.
To date, Taiwan has reported 124 deaths from COVID-19, including 112 in the past two weeks.
Taiwan has confirmed 8,511 cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak began early in 2020, of which more than 7,000 are domestic cases reported since May 15, when Taiwan first reported over 100 domestic infections in a single day.
(By Chiang Yi-ching)
Enditem/AW
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