CORONAVIRUS/Taiwan reports 10,120 new COVID cases; mask rules to be reviewed in April

Taipei, Feb. 28 (CNA) Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) reported 10,120 new cases of COVID-19 and 40 deaths from the disease on Tuesday.
Among the new cases, 9,908 were contracted domestically, which represented a 41.4-percent drop from the same day a week earlier, CECC data showed.
According to CECC spokesman Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞), the decrease resulted partly from the extended holiday for Tuesday's 228 Peace Memorial Day, during which many medical institutions were closed.
The daily number is expected to rebound to about 15,000-20,000 on Wednesday and Thursday, Lo said.
However, he went on, the local outbreak is declining as expected and the face mask mandate for schools is set to be eased on March 6 as scheduled.
Further easing of COVID-19 restrictions
Asked about Hong Kong's decision to lift its mask mandate Wednesday, Lo said there would be no discussions on whether Taiwan will further ease its mask mandate until mid-April.
Under Hong Kong's new mask rules, people in the former British colony will not have to put on face masks whenever they go indoors, outdoors, or take public transportation, but will still have to wear them in medical institutions.
Lo explained that Taiwan's face-mask mandate was recently relaxed on Feb. 20 to allow people to be mask-free in most indoor settings. The next step will be easing quarantine and reporting rules for people who are infected, he said.
CECC head Victor Wang (王必勝) has said a full lifting of mask requirements could take place in May, but stressed that actual implementation would depend on vaccine coverage and the status of the local outbreak at that point.
To date, Taiwan has recorded 10,043,227 COVID-19 infections and 17,948 deaths from the disease since the pandemic began in early 2020.
The CECC has stopped providing daily information on the age distribution and health status of the deceased and the number of vaccine doses they received. It is also no longer releasing daily infection numbers for each of Taiwan's cities and counties.

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Recent cases
Feb. 27: Taiwan sees under 10,000 new COVID-19 cases for first time in over 300 days
Feb. 26: Taiwan reports 13,090 new COVID-19 cases, 46 deaths
Feb. 25: Taiwan surpasses 10 million COVID-19 case threshold
Feb. 24: Taiwan reports 13,440 new COVID-19 cases, 56 deaths
Feb. 23: Taiwan reports 14,387 new COVID-19 cases, 37 deaths
Feb. 22: Taiwan reports 16,484 new COVID-19 cases, 64 deaths
Feb. 21: Taiwan reports 17,253 new COVID-19 cases, 44 deaths
Latest COVID-19 rules
● Taiwan's eased indoor mask mandate takes effect Feb. 20
● COVID-19 testing for overseas arrivals dropped from Feb. 7 (2023)
● Revised protocol for hospital visits from Dec. 10
● Taiwan to stop paying COVID medical fees for certain foreign nationals
● Taiwan to remove weekly arrival cap on Dec. 10
● Taiwan cuts COVID isolation to 5 days, lifts workplace vaccine mandates (Nov. 14)
● Taiwan to further ease border rules for China, Hong Kong, Macau residents
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