Taiwan enacted a nationwide Level 3 COVID-19 alert on Wednesday. That’s after it saw 267 more domestic cases of COVID-19 that same day. Previously, only Taipei and New Taipei had enacted Level 3 alerts, with the rest of Taiwan under a Level 2 alert.
Under a Level 3 alert, masks are obligatory everywhere outside the home, indoor gatherings are capped at five people and outdoor gatherings at ten. In addition, a range of public spaces and businesses including leisure venues and gyms are closed.
Wednesday’s new domestic cases were concentrated in New Taipei, where 129 cases were recorded, and Taipei, where 70 cases were recorded. But new cases were also reported in Changhua County, Taoyuan, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Keelung, Yilan County, Tainan, and Hsinchu City.
There were also eight new imported cases on Wednesday. That brings the total number of COVID-19 cases Taiwan has recorded since the start of the pandemic up to 2,533.
Despite the recent rise in the number of new cases, there has been some good news on the vaccine front. Health Minister Chen Shih-chung says that Taiwan is receiving over 410,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday afternoon through the international COVAX vaccine distribution scheme.