Taiwan reported 46 local COVID cases on Wednesday, as well as 46 imported cases. Taoyuan reported the most local cases, at 29, followed by Kaohsiung, with 12. According to officials, there are now 10 omicron infection chains, seven of which have yet to be linked to a source. Let''s hear from the CECC.

Philip Lo
CECC medical response division
The two main clusters are still the one linked to Taoyuan International Airport and the one at Kaohsiung Port. There are three unconnected clusters involving hospital workers and medical staff. Those three are all different omicron varieties. There’s one involving one of our staff at Taoyuan airport. Then, there were two quarantine taxi drivers as well. That makes a total of eight different instances, all caused by different omicron varieties. On top of that, today we have the hotel in Jiaoxi and the cluster involving a real estate agent in greater Taipei. Both of these clusters are different omicron varieties. So all in all, we have 10 independent chains of infection.

Amid the uptick in cases, Taoyuan is tightening COVID regulations for restaurants, which are now only allowed to operate at 50% capacity. Now karaoke machines are banned in restaurants. Meanwhile, the CECC says it is not considering a ban on dining in at restaurants, or any stricter regulations.