TAIPEI: Taiwan announced that for the first time in 37 days there are no new cases of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) to report.
During his daily press conference, Health Minister and CECC head Chen Shih-chung announced there were zero new coronavirus cases detected in the country that day.
Chen said the last time Taiwan had reported zero new cases was March 9, meaning that Taiwan had gone 36 days with at least one coronavirus case, Taiwan News reported.
The vast majority of cases reported over this period were imported from other countries as Taiwanese citizens fled from hotspots in Europe, Asia, and North America. There were fears these imported cases would bring the second wave of domestic infections to the country.
Out of Taiwan’s total count of 393 cases, 338 were imported from abroad, while 55 were contracted locally. Of the confirmed cases, six have succumbed to the disease, while 124 have been released from hospital isolation.
Fortunately, it appears the CECC’s efforts at quickly identifying, isolating, and tracing contacts of confirmed cases have held the virus at bay, for now.
In other good news, Chen said all 214 Taiwan citizens who were evacuated from Hubei province via charter plane on March 30 were released on Tuesday from home isolation and have begun self-health management.
(with inputs from Agencies)
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