TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan confirmed one local COVID-19 infection and 74 imported cases Friday (March 18), but no new deaths, leaving the death tally at 853, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
The only newly reported local patient was a man in his 30s living in south Taiwan, the CECC said. He had received two doses of the BioNTech vaccine.
Friday’s imported cases included 52 males and 22 females, aged from under 5 to 69, who arrived in Taiwan between Dec. 17 and March 17. The largest groups of foreign arrivals confirmed with COVID were 18 from Vietnam, nine from the United States, seven from Indonesia, three from Canada and two from Poland. The COVID case who entered the country on Dec. 17 last year was a Taiwanese man in his 30s, but his travel history was not clear, according to the CECC.
Taiwan’s latest total number of 21,658 coronavirus patients included 15,494 domestic cases and 6,110 imported ones. The 853 fatalities from the pandemic included 839 due to local infections, with New Taipei City registering 413 deaths and Taipei City 322.
A total of 36 COVID cases originated from a journey by the Taiwan Navy’s "Goodwill Fleet" in 2020, three were infected on board a flight, one case was classified as unresolved, and 14 cases were put under investigation. A total of 134 earlier patients were removed from the list of confirmed cases.