A shipment of around 35,000 courses of the antiviral medication molnupiravir, which is expected to be mainly distributed to long-term care institutions and dialysis centers, arrived in Taiwan on Monday.

The 35,000 courses of molnupiravir arrived on a flight from Chicago that touched down at 6:47 p.m. at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

The shipment was part of a Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) order of a total of 100,000 courses.

Lo Yi-chun (???), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said molnupiravir has fewer interactions with other medicines and is expected to be mainly distributed to long-term care institutions and dialysis centers.

The drug can be administered via a tube, which is suitable for use in the case of cluster infections at long-term care institutions, Lo said.

From the start of this year until Sunday, a total of 619 long-term care and related institutions have recorded COVID-19 cases, with a total of 3,063 residents and 1,602 workers confirmed as having the virus, according to CECC data.

Taiwan recorded over 60,000 daily COVID-19 cases for the fifth straight day on Monday, reporting 61,754 new infections and 29 deaths from the disease, according to the CECC.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel