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Taiwan reports 24 new COVID-19 cases, to lower alert level

ROC Central News Agency

07/23/2021 05:15 PM

 

Taipei, July 23 (CNA) Taiwan on Friday reported 24 new COVID-19 infections -- 23 transmitted domestically and one contracted overseas -- and laid out updated disease control measures as it prepares to lower the nationwide Level 3 COVID-19 alert to Level 2 from July 27.

Of the domestic cases, 13 were reported in New Taipei, four each in Taipei and in Taoyuan, and one each in Yilan and Kaohsiung, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

Only five of the patients had no apparent link to previously confirmed COVID-19 cases, and Taiwan has seen such cases remain in single digits for a week, indicating that the situation is under control, said CECC chief, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) at a daily press briefing.

 

He said the current Level 3 restrictions will be relaxed to allow the reopening of more businesses and venues that have been ordered to close since COVID-19 cases began surging in mid-May, as well as gatherings of as many as 50 people indoors and 100 outdoors.

Under the current Level 3 alert, part of a four-tier system, gatherings of more than four people indoors and nine outdoors have been banned, schools and entertainment venues have been closed, and in-person dining in restaurants has been prohibited.

The CECC eased some of those restrictions on July 13, allowing libraries, movie theaters, and gyms to reopen and restaurants to serve customers on-site.

But some of the businesses have remained closed, and local governments rejected the CECC's guidance on in-person dining for fear it could lead to the spread of the disease.

The new cases reported Friday bring the total in the country to 15,535, of which 14,064 are domestic infections reported since May 15, when the country first recorded more than 100 COVID-19 cases in a single day.

The one imported case was a Croatian boy under 10, who traveled to Taiwan from Switzerland on June 28 and tested positive for the disease on Friday, the CECC said.

 

Meanwhile, two deaths were reported, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 80s, according to the CECC.

To date, 784 people have died of COVID-19 in Taiwan, including 772 since May 15.

(By Lee Hsin-Yin)

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