A leading epidemiologist Ho Mei-shang is calling on the government to increase its testing capacity for COVID-19.
Taiwan reported 333 domestic COVID-19 cases on Monday, a record high. On Tuesday, for the first time, the number of domestic cases outnumbered imported ones as 240 more were added to the list.
But according to epidemiologist Ho Mei-shang, those figures simply show the progress in testing. They don’t reflect how fast the virus spreads.
Ho said the cases confirmed in the next two weeks contracted the disease before May 15, when the alert level was raised. She said the government must quickly increase its testing capacity. Only by doing so will Taiwan be able to gauge the true picture of the latest surge in cases.
Ho said there’s an estimated 1,400 or more infected people in society that haven’t been tested.
Ho said the virus spreads easily in large gatherings, especially if people sing together and have physical contact without social distancing.
When will Taiwan be able to stop the virus from spreading further? Infectious disease specialist Dr. Wang Jen-hsien says, with the current disease prevention measures, the number of cases will drop after two weeks. But it will take six weeks, with current measures, to return to normal life.