Taiwan reported 1,210 new local and 93 imported cases of COVID-19 on Sunday. There were no related deaths reported.
Of the 8,948 local cases from January 1 to April 16 this year, 99.49% were mild or asymptomatic cases. Only 0.48%, or 43 patients, were moderate cases and 0.03%, or 3 persons, were serious cases so far this year.
The local cases numbers have been around 1,200 for the past three days. Of Sunday’s cases, 663 were asymptomatic. Seven were moderate cases aged 20 to 90 years old. They are all in the hospital in stable condition.
Of the imported cases, 82 of the 93 were discovered upon landing in Taiwan.
Officials also announced that Moderna vaccine dosage guidelines for children have been approved for children 6 to 11 years old. The 0.25 ml dosage they receive will be half that of adults. Children can receive two Moderna doses 28 days apart from each other.
When asked about the projected number of cases for Taiwan, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung cited Hong Kong and New Zealand’s figure of 16% of the population.
Chen said that taking into consideration Taiwan’s COVID measures, officials would use the roughly 15% figure from Hong Kong and New Zealand as a guideline. It would also take into consideration how cases are growing in the next few weeks.
Chen said Australia and Singapore have seen 20% of its population get COVID-19, South Korea has seen 30%. The US has seen 25% and France 42%, while Denmark and other northern European countries have had around 50% of their population get COVID-19.
The number of new local cases by city and county are as follows:
Taipei 410
New Taipei 201
Taoyuan City 180
Hualien County 119
Keelung City 107
Yilan County 52
Kaohsiung City 35
Taichung City 22
Taitung County 21
Pingtung County 14
Tainan City 10
Hsinchu City 9
Changhua County 8
Hsinchu County 7
Yunlin County 6
Miaoli County 5
Nantou County 2
Chiayi City 1
Chiayi County 1
With the increase in cases, the central government is sending 100,000 COVID test kits each to Taipei, New Taipei, Hualien and Taoyuan on Sunday.