Taiwan reports 240 new Covid-19 cases, in talks with US for share of donated vaccine doses
- Island also reports two deaths on Tuesday as its total leaps to 1,024 locally transmitted cases in the past eight days
- Hsiao Bi-khim, Taipei’s de facto envoy to the US, hopes to secure delivery of vaccines in June, with the island facing a surge in infections
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said the new cases were located mostly in the Greater Taipei area, with 106 reported in New Taipei and 102 in Taipei. They brought to 1,024 the number of locally transmitted cases in the past eight days.
Chen said two infected persons, a 60-year-old woman and an 86-year-old man, died on Monday because of complications from the disease.
“The [woman] was found collapsing at home on Monday and died after she was hospitalised,” Chen said. He said the man was being treated for a chronic disease when he contracted the virus from an infected patient at the same hospital. His condition worsened and he died on the same day.
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They were the first two deaths in the recent surge of local cases, bringing the total number of people killed by the virus to 14. The last previous fatality was reported on April 24, when a 70-year-old Philippines-based Taiwanese businessman died during quarantine at a hotel in Taipei.