TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan announced 160 local COVID-19 infections and 244 imported ones Saturday (April 2).

These are both the highest single-day figures for 2022 so far, but the death tally remains unchanged at 853, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The new number of domestic cases is the highest since the major outbreak last May. On Friday (April 1), the single-day number of new domestic infections exceeded 100 for the first time this year, reaching 104, with cases reported from six cities and three counties. The previously highest number of imported cases reported on one day was Thursday (March 21) with 152.

The 160 new local cases included 83 males and 77 females between under five and 79 years of age. New Taipei City again reported the highest number of local infections with 52. Keelung City reported 37, Taoyuan City 22, and Taipei City 18. A total of 83 cases were asymptomatic, according to CECC data.

The new imported cases included 105 males and 74 females, ranging from younger than five to 99 years old, who arrived in Taiwan between Feb. 27 and April 1. The CECC is still investigating the background of 65 other imported cases.

As to the origin of the imported cases, there were 23 arrivals from the Philippines, 15 from Vietnam, 10 from Indonesia, and six from South Korea.

The new daily highs for the year came at the start of the four-day Tomb Sweeping holiday, which some observers fear could trigger more local infections as people travel around the country for tourism or family visits.

Taiwan’s total number of 24,033 coronavirus cases includes 16,133 domestic cases and 7,846 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.