The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 20 locally transmitted COVID-19 infections, but no deaths.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the 20 cases comprise nine men and 11 women ranging in age from older than 20 to younger than 80, 16 of whom tested positive during isolation or upon ending it.
The majority of the cases were reported in New Taipei City, with 14 cases, followed by Taipei with five and Taoyuan with one, he said.
The infection sources of 16 cases have been identified, while four are unclear and will be further investigated, Chen said.
Up to 89.3 percent of the people infected with COVID-19 between May 11 and Monday have been released from isolation after recovery, he said.
At a separate briefing, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said that 13 of the city’s 14 cases tested positive during isolation, and that five were linked to a hospital cluster and eight were linked to a family cluster.
He said that among a total of 10 confirmed cases associated with the hospital cluster, seven had been vaccinated, so people should remain vigilant even after receiving their vaccine shots.
Speaking in his weekly online broadcast, National Taiwan University College of Public Health professor Tony Chen (陳秀熙) warned about vaccine breakthrough cases — people contracting the virus after they have been fully vaccinated for more than 14 days.
Asked about the vaccine breakthrough situation in Taiwan, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said that so far, six cases of breakthrough infections have been reported, suggesting an incidence rate of 0.002 percent.
The six, who had received two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, had mild symptoms, he said.
Three of them were infected with the Alpha variant of SARS-CoV-2, he said, adding that genomic sequencing might be conducted to identify the virus strain in the other three cases, if feasible.
Asked about public concern that the online COVID-19 vaccination booking system was closed yesterday, Chen said the system was temporarily closed at noon yesterday to calculate the number of eligible recipients for the Moderna vaccine next week.
People can still register their vaccination preference with the system after it reopens at noon today, he said, adding that Taiwan has purchased enough vaccine doses, but delivery remains a problem.
Taiwan has secured a total of 51.67 million doses of vaccines, including 30.81 million doses through procurement, 2.5 million doses donated by the US, 3.34 million doses donated by Japan, 20,000 doses donated by Lithuania and 15 million doses donated by the private sector.
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