TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Health officials at the epicenter of the first local outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant in southern Taiwan are scrambling to inoculate residents while mass screening is ongoing.

Fangshan Township in Pingtung County, known for the tourist attraction of Kenting, is at the center of the Delta infections imported by two residents returning from Peru. At least eight cases of the COVID-19 strain have been confirmed, with more expected to be identified pending genome sequencing results.

As part of the containment measures, the government has embarked on an inoculation program targeting residents from Shanyu and Gangyu villages in the township. Residents aged 18 and above, and having received a negative PCR test, are eligible to get a shot, wrote CNA.

The Central Epidemic Command Center has allocated 1,200 additional jabs for the two villages. The emergency immunization effort is likely to be complete in three days, said Pingtung Magistrate Pan Men-an (潘孟安).

Southern municipalities including Tainan City are beefing up COVID control measures since some of the cases in the new cluster have traveled outside Pingtung. While Pan rebutted rumors of an imminent lockdown, he has urged locals to stay home as the county enforces Level 3 restrictions to rein in the Delta strain.