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TAIPEI (REUTERS, BLOOMBERG) – The government of Taiwan reported on Tuesday (December 22) its first locally transmitted Covid-19 case since April 12.
The individual who tested positive for Covid-19 was friends with a person who had already been confirmed to be infected with the virus, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said at a press conference.
The announcement ends what was the longest stretch in the world without a domestic infection and provides a reminder of the virus’s ability to outpace even the most successful efforts to contain it.
The resurgence of a local outbreak threatens to derail one of the most prominent success stories in the global fight against the pandemic. Taiwan has managed to keep its total number of cases at 766, with just seven deaths, through a combination of restricting travel to the island at the beginning of the outbreak and implementing a strict quarantine and contact tracing strategy.
Taiwan currently ranks second in the Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking, a measure of the best places to be in the Covid-19 era.
However, the continued spread of the coronavirus around the world has meant that Taiwanese authorities have had to remain on guard. Since the last case of national transmission in April, more than 300 cases have been brought in by people returning from abroad.
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