Taiwan reported 24 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, all but one contracted overseas, and confirmed one previous case as an Omicron variant infection, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said.
The sole domestic case is a Taiwanese man in his 30s who lives in New Taipei and has not been vaccinated against COVID-19, CECC official Lo Yi-chun (???) told reporters.
The man was tested for the disease on Saturday because he was accompanying a hospital patient. His test results indicated that he was infected a while ago and he poses little threat to the community at large, Lo said.
Taiwan also reported 23 new imported COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the highest number of such cases recorded in a single day this year, Lo said.
The cases are all Taiwanese nationals, who tested positive either upon entry to Taiwan or during quarantine after traveling to Taiwan in the past week from the United States, Kazakhstan, Cameroon, and South Africa.
The 11 Taiwanese who tested positive after returning from Kazakhstan are part of a team of 22 that traveled to the Central Asian country to participate in the 2021 Asian Karate Championships, Lo said.
Karate is a contact sport, so it is harder to protect against the disease during competition, Lo said, adding that Hong Kong athletes who competed in the tournament had also tested positive after returning home.
Genome sequencing will be conducted to identify which variant of the virus they have been infected with, Lo said.
The remainder of the team who have tested negative for the disease will continue to stay in a government quarantine center to finish their 14-day quarantine, Lo said.
The 11 people who have tested positive include coaches and athletes, Sports Administration Deputy Director-General Hung Chih-chang(???) told CNA.
Also on Sunday, the CECC confirmed that a COVID-19 case reported on Friday had been confirmed to be an Omicron variant infection, bringing the total in the country to 28.
All 28 cases tested positive either upon entry to Taiwan or during quarantine, and they have all been classified as breakthrough infections, according to CECC data.
Taiwan reported its first case of the Omicron variant on Dec. 11.
To date, Taiwan has confirmed 16,915 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, of which 14,436 are domestic infections reported since May 15, 2021, when the country first recorded more than 100 cases in a single day.
Daily domestic case numbers have fallen to mostly single digits or zero since Aug. 15. Ten such cases have been reported in December so far, including seven linked to cluster infections at quarantine hotels in Taipei and Taoyuan.
With no deaths reported Sunday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the country remains at 850, with all but 12 recorded since May 15. Taiwan last reported a death related to COVID-19 on Dec. 19, according to the CECC.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel