The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 23 local cases of COVID-19 and two deaths.
The cases are 19 men and four women, in their 20s to 50s, with an onset of symptoms between July 10 and Thursday, center data showed.
New Taipei City reported the most cases, 13, followed by Taipei and Taoyuan with four each, and Yilan County and Kaohsiung with one each, data showed.
Among the cases, 18 have known sources of infection, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said during a daily news conference in Taipei.
Over the past week, the daily number of cases with unclear or unknown sources of infection has been fewer than 10, allowing the government to downgrade the COVID-19 alert level, Chen said.
The two deaths are a woman in her 80s and a man in his 60s, both of whom had contacts with other confirmed cases as well as chronic illnesses, center data showed.
As of yesterday, the nation had reported 15,535 COVID-19 cases and 784 deaths, the data showed.
Of the 14,280 cases reported from May 11 to Wednesday, 87.5 percent have been discharged from isolation facilities, the data showed.
The center also shared the viral genome sequencing results for seven of the 31 imported cases reported from Saturday last week to Thursday.
Six are infected with the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, including two returning from Myanmar, two from Indonesia, and one each from Mauritania and the UK, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
The other person, infected with the Gamma variant, returned from Argentina via a transit flight in Brazil, he added.
The center has so far identified 35 infections of the Delta variant, including 23 imported and 12 local cases, Lo said, adding that the domestic cases were all linked to cluster infections in Pingtung County.
Other genome sequencing results for 18 local cases found that the Alpha variant remains the dominant source of domestic infections, he said.
As of Thursday, 24.94 percent of the nation’s population had been vaccinated against COVID-19, with 5.8 million people having received at least one dose, center data showed.
Separately yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a news release thanked the Czech government for considering donating COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan.
The statement came after Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil on Thursday wrote on Twitter that he had spoken with Czech Minister of Health Adam Vojtech and that he would “wait with slight optimism” for the result of a government meeting on Monday regarding the possibility of sending vaccines to Taiwan.
The ministry said it would respect the Czech government’s final decision.
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