Taipei has launched a new automated system to notify people when they have tested positive for COVID-19. The system coming online on Monday will also ask people when they fell ill, where they plan to quarantine, and who their recent contacts are.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Huang Shan-shan says the new platform will save time and make contact tracing more efficient.
Right now, health authorities across the country are scrambling to keep up with the wave of COVID infections sweeping across Taiwan. On Sunday, authorities reported more than 5,000 new local cases for the first time since the pandemic began.
That has led to delays in some parts of Taiwan’s COVID response. One Taipei resident told city officials that health authorities only contacted him about his illness a full day after he tested positive. In that time, he says, he had become much more unwell.
Deputy Mayor Huang says shifting part of the responsibility for contact tracing and reporting conditions to patients will help ease the burden on the health system.