CORONAVIRUS/Economically disadvantaged groups to receive free COVID rapid tests: official

Taipei, May 26 (CNA) The government will provide free COVID-19 antigen rapid tests to lower-middle and low-income households, and long-term care facility residents to help them cope with challenges associated with the pandemic, Cabinet spokesperson Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said Thursday.

Every member of a lower-middle- or low-income family will get five COVID-19 antigen rapid tests for free, and each resident of a long-term care facility will receive three, Lo told reporters after the Cabinet's weekly meeting.

Providing the tests will help ease the financial burden of the pandemic for around 800,000 people, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told the Cabinet, according to Lo.

Meanwhile, despite the current wide availability of rapid tests at retail stores, the government will continue to supply rapid tests to local governments and schools, Lo said.

Su told the Cabinet that the priority for the government at this stage was to preserve hospitals' capacity to treat COVID-19 cases who have developed moderate-to-severe symptoms.

After being briefed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare at the meeting, Su said the pandemic has begun to plateau, with 99.8 percent of the confirmed cases being asymptomatic or mild, Lo quoted Su as saying.