CORONAVIRUS/Taiwan reports 24 new COVID-19 cases, Rt value under 1 for 3 weeks

07/12/2021 05:40 PM

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Taipei, July 12 (CNA) The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Monday that Taiwan recorded 24 new cases of COVID-19, and that the number of people each patient infects on average has been fewer than one for the past three weeks.

Speaking at a CECC press briefing, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said that with the exception of July 8, when only 18 new COVID-19 cases were reported, the number of new cases per day remained in the 20s and 30s over the past week.

New case numbers will likely continue to be in this range, unless there is a large cluster infection, Chen said.

He added that the Rt number in Taiwan, or the number of new infections caused by each individual patient on average, has been under one for the past three weeks.

Of the 24 new cases on Monday, all but one was a domestic infection. Ten were reported in New Taipei, nine in Taipei, while one each was reported in Keelung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Taichung.

Four of the cases have no apparent link to previously confirmed COVID-19 patients, two are under investigation, and 17 have a known source of infection, according to the CECC.

The sole imported case is a Croatian girl under 10 years of age who traveled to Taiwan from Switzerland in late June. She tested positive prior to finishing quarantine.

The death reported Monday was a man in his 60s who passed away on July 10.

To date, Taiwan has confirmed a total of 15,273 COVID-19 cases, over 13,800 of which are domestic infections reported since May 15, when the country first recorded more than 100 cases in a single day since the beginning of the pandemic.