Taiwan reported 21 local COVID cases on Thursday. Eight of them have been linked back to a cluster at Kaohsiung Port, with the remaining 13 were all reported in Taoyuan. Also on Thursday, officials announced that they had found a missing link between two clusters of unknown origin.

Officials have found the missing link between a preschool outbreak and a cluster at a Taoyuan hotpot restaurant. It’s the grandmother of a student at the preschool. She had had a meal at the restaurant on Jan. 16.

Chen Shih-chung
CECC head
Case #18,631 had a meal at the Chien Tu restaurant that day. She infected her grandson, who infected his older brother. The latter is a student at the preschool. We don’t yet know the source of the infection, but now these two clusters with an unknown source of infection have become just one.

Eight of the cases reported on Thursday were connected to the restaurant-preschool cluster.

Cheng Wen-tsan
Taoyuan mayor
At 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 16, Case #18,631 had a meal at the Chien Tu restaurant on Jieshou Road in Bade District. We have sent text messages to more than 300 people, and we’re using location data to track every customer and get each of them tested.

With COVID cases on the rise, Taiwan is seeing another rush for vaccines. The 21st round of vaccinations will offer 1.52 million booster shots. According to the CECC, as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, more than 1.19 million people had booked a shot. About 96.6% of all available Moderna doses have been booked, as well as 63.09% of available Medigen doses. The next most popular brand is Pfizer. Even 28.56% of all available AstraZeneca doses have been booked, even though the brand has not been recommended for boosters.

Chen Shih-chung
CECC head
First-dose coverage is now at 81.48%, two-dose coverage at 74.22%, additional primary dose coverage at 0.67% and booster shot coverage at 20.37%. Let’s keep it up. If you are eligible for a vaccine, go get vaccinated.

The CECC called on the public to get vaccinated to gain protection against COVID. It also announced that more COVID treatments had arrived in Taiwan. Following a shipment of Merck’s antiviral pills earlier this week, Taiwan took delivery of 3,200 courses of Pfizer’s COVID oral treatment on Thursday.

Chang Shan-chwen
CECC specialist advisory panel convener
Taiwan is the second country in Asia to receive the Pfizer treatment, second only to South Korea. We were also the second country in Asia to receive Merck’s molnupiravir, after Japan. We might be the first country in Asia to have both of these treatments.

Both treatments are recommended for patients with risk factors for severe COVID, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. They are both to be used within five days of symptom onset on patients not on ventilators. Pfizer’s pills can be taken by patients as young as 12, and Merck’s pill can be taken by people aged 18 and up.