With 23 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Taiwan, Wednesday, March 18th, the total number of cases in the country has now hit triple figures.
Taiwan’s Health Minister Chen Shih-chung earlier today announced the spike in numbers before confirming that 19 of the new cases were imported. To date, around 70% of all cases in Taiwan were brought in from overseas.
In other COVID-19 related news today, Taiwan and the US are increasing efforts to help counter the spread of the virus.
In addition to cooperation in R&D fields related to COVID-19, it is understood Taipei and Washington will also share on-the-ground techniques to best help trace those with the virus.
A statement to this end was issued by both Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the official US representative in Taiwan, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, speaking at the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) told the gathered media that this cooperation has already begun.
CECC head, Taiwan’s serving Health Minister, Chen Shih-chung also announced that once Taiwan’s mask production numbers reach sufficient levels Taipei will send 100,000 surgical masks per week to the US.
Taiwan currently produces around 11 million masks every seven days and this figure is expected to rise to around 15 million in the near future.
