CORONAVIRUS/Reports of COVID-19 outbreak among Vietnamese in Taiwan 'fake': CECC

Taipei, Sept. 24 (CNA) The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Thursday dismissed as "fake news" several recent social media posts about a lockdown of cities in Taiwan due to a large-scale outbreak of COVID-19 in the Vietnamese communities.

The story originated on a propaganda website, known as a content farm, and has since been removed, CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) told CNA.

According to the post on the Vietnamese-language website, Taiwan had locked down some of its cities and was busy conducting contact tracing after 250 Vietnamese in the country tested positive for COVID-19, Chuang said, citing some Vietnamese nationals.

That story was "fake news," Chuang said, urging Vietnamese in Taiwan to remain calm as there have been no locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the country for more than 160 days.

To date, Taiwan has recorded 509 cases of COVID-19, with 417 classified as imported. Of the total, 479 have recovered, seven have died, and 23 are in the hospital, according to CECC data.

The last time Taiwan confirmed a domestic infection was on April 12.