Taiwan faces largest COVID-19 outbreak yet

In April, the island's central authorities announced that they would no longer maintain a “zero-COVID” policy like the Chinese government's in which they would centrally quarantine positive cases

Taiwan, which had been living mostly free of COVID-19, is now facing its worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic with over 11,000 new cases reported on April 28.

Cases have been on the upswing since late March. In April, the island's central authorities announced that they would no longer maintain a “zero-COVID” policy like the Chinese government's in which they would centrally quarantine positive cases.

Instead, the government is asking people to quarantine at home if they test positive, unless they show moderate to severe symptoms.

Chen Shih-chung, the island's Health Minister, announced on Thursday that they had found 11,353 new cases, along with two deaths. During the daily press briefing held by the Central Epidemic Command Center, he said 99.7% of the cases in the current outbreak either had no symptoms or had mild symptoms.

Chin Siz-rong, a 24-year-old travel agent in Taipei, isn't planning to take any extra precautions because he already got a booster COVID-19 vaccine and is used to wearing a mask. He said he switched to takeout when he eats out alone, but still will go to restaurants with friends.

“I already got three shots and now everyone is saying its severity is like a cold. So I'm not too afraid for myself,” said Chin. Most of Taiwan's 858 COVID-19 deaths came from summer 2021. Until this month, it had been the island's one major outbreak in the pandemic.

Taiwan has been relatively lucky throughout the pandemic, but also has maintained strict border controls with a two-week quarantine on arrival required for all visitors.