TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The proportion of arrivals from China testing positive for COVID-19 is falling, but the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) predicted the communist country would face three infection waves, reports said Friday (Jan. 13).
Of the 1,685 travelers arriving at Taipei’s two airports Wednesday (Jan. 11), 201 or 11.9% tested positive for COVID, the Liberty Times reported. The figure was lower than the peak of 25% reported earlier, and lower than the average of 16.3% for the Jan. 1-11 period.
At Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, 174 out of 1,215 passengers arriving from China Jan. 11 tested positive for COVID. At Taipei Songshan Airport, the figure was 27 out of 269.
However, CECC Spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) predicted China would suffer from three consecutive waves of new COVID infections. The first wave affected large urban centers, but in a second phase, city dwellers would transmit the virus to the countryside as they traveled to spend the Lunar New Year with their relatives.
The third wave of infections would take place after the holiday, with people returning home to the cities, according to Chuang.
Taiwan has not reopened its borders to tourists from China, with the vast majority of travelers being Taiwanese citizens who live, work, or study in China. All travelers from China have to take a saliva-based PCR test after they arrive in Taiwan.
