Health minister Chen Shih-chung said that people should go on with their plans to visit family during the Lunar New Year, but try to avoid crowded areas. That’s as Taiwan faces new clusters in a domestic COVID outbreak.
Taiwan is currently under upgraded Level 2 alert restrictions.
Taiwan saw 52 domestic, 37 imported and zero COVID deaths reported on Sunday. Of the imported cases, 20 were discovered in quarantine and 17 at the airport.
New domestic cases include 15 in the Kaohsiung port area and 30 in Taoyuan. The Taoyuan Farglory Free Trade Zone cluster added 30 cases, bringing the total to 100. The Hongbai company and Asky factory there have seen a higher rate of infections. Chen believes that this cluster can be contained. Companies in the zone have been asked to stop operating and employees to go into home quarantine. Officials will give a PCR test to 4,500 people in the zone on Monday.
The domestic cases also include a new case involving a chef at Grand Hotel and three of her family members. Two new cases were linked to a cluster reported at a steakhouse in Taoyuan, and one is an employee at a hotel in Yilan, while others were discovered during quarantine.
Chen said the Taoyuan International Airport cluster seems to be under control, with second and third round testing.
On Saturday, Chen said it could be impossible to achieve a "zero COVID" situation in Taiwan and the government will adjust quarantine rules and measures in handling the disease so the situation can be manageable for the medical system.
Chen also encouraged the public to get vaccinated to protect themselves.
Chen also said current clusters remain under control but Taiwan will have to raise the COVID-19 alert to Level 3 if widespread outbreaks happen in the communities.
Taiwan has seen a total of 18,325 confirmed COVID cases and 851 deaths, including 3,368 imported and 14,903 domestic cases.