Taiwan’s R number - or reproduction number - for COVID-19 has dropped to 0.46. That means the outbreak is slowing down.
In mid-May, the R number was 15, meaning one patient would infect an average of 15 others. Now one person will infect only 0.46 people on average.
The total number of daily new COVID-19 cases in Taiwan has been under 200 over four consecutive days, whereas during mid-May Taiwan was reporting over 500 new daily cases.
National Taiwan University epidemiologist Dr. Chen Hsiu-hsi says that Taiwan could see its Level 3 alert restrictions loosen up soon. That’s due to four main factors. First, over 70% of Taiwan’s frontline medical workers have been vaccinated, which decreases the risk of the virus’ spread. Senior citizens and those in long-term care centers are getting vaccinated as well, which should bring down the death rate.
Chen also noted that people can get tested at their companies, in their communities, and at local clinics and that they can also get tested at home. This will prevent small clusters from turning into bigger outbreaks. Chen also noted that over 90% of people in Taiwan have been wearing masks and following social distancing measures, which lowers the possibility of cluster outbreaks.
Dr. Chen said Taiwan could loosen up COVID alert measures, but he suggests that the nation do so gradually. He noted that most countries need a vaccination rate of at least 20% before they loosen up restrictions.