TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan reported 320 new local COVID-19 cases Saturday (May 29), including a single-day record 21 deaths, with 166 retroactively added cases and seven imported cases.
New Taipei City recorded the highest number of domestic infections for any locality, 224 overall, while Taipei City confirmed 168 cases. Taichung City had 33 new cases, followed by Taoyuan City with 19 cases, Keelung with 14, and Taitung and Yilan with five each.
Of the 320 new local cases, 169 were men and 151 were women, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said. The youngest was less than five years of age, the oldest in their 90s, with the same age range for the retroactive cases.
The 166 backlog cases were 90 men and 76 women. The 21 deceased were 13 men and eight women ranging in age from being in their 30s to over 90. All of them fell ill between May 11-25.
The seven imported cases arrived from the Philippines, Indonesia, and India. They were four Filipino men in their 20s and one in his 30s coming to Taiwan for work, a Taiwanese man in his 20s returned from Indonesia, and a Taiwanese man in his 40s from India, the CECC said.
Saturday was supposed to be the first day after the end of the Level 3 alert, but as the pandemic has shown no sign of petering out, the government extended the alert until at least June 14, during the Dragon Boat Festival.
Taipei City and New Taipei City raised their COVID alert to Level 3 two weeks ago, followed by a nationwide expansion on May 19. This triggered the closure of schools, fitness clubs, nightclubs, karaoke bars, museums, libraries and many other sites where people congregate.
Level 3 restrictions include a ban on outdoor gatherings of more than 10 people and indoor gatherings of more than five, as well as compulsory mask wearing outside the home.
Taiwan’s total number of 7,806 coronavirus cases includes 6,620 domestic cases, 1,133 imported cases, and 99 deaths.
A total of 36 cases originated from the Taiwan Navy’s "Goodwill Fleet," two were infected onboard a flight, one case was classified as unresolved, and 14 cases are still under investigation. A total of 20 earlier cases were removed from the list of confirmed cases.
