Taiwan reported 31,500 new domestic COVID-19 infections Sunday, marking the fourth consecutive day with fewer than 40,000 cases, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
The latest domestic infection count represented a 3 percent drop from Saturday and a decline of about 10.8 percent from the same day the previous week.
CECC spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) had said on Oct. 23 that the critical factor determining whether domestic cases of the Omicron BA.5 subvariant were in fact falling from their plateau would be if cases between Oct. 23 and Oct. 29 fell by around 10 percent.
According to CECC statistics, more than 230,000 BA.5 cases were confirmed during the week, down 9.9 percent from the previous week from Oct. 16 to Oct. 22, confirming that cases were in fact declining, Chuang said Sunday.
Unlike the domestic BA.2 outbreak earlier this year that saw a sharp rise in cases, the number of BA.5 cases increased slowly and was expected to decrease slowly as well, Chuang said, adding that the caseload is likely to drop by less than 10 percent next week.
Chuang said “it is still difficult to predict,” however, when asked about the possibility of an agreement reached in a meeting of CECC experts later this week to cut the isolation period for people who test positive for COVID from seven days to five with domestic COVID-19infections seemingly on the decline.
This is because the experts will not only take into account the development of the epidemic, but also the impact of the planned relaxation of some COVID control measures in the community on Nov. 7.
CECC data showed that to date, 93.9 percent of Taiwan’s population have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, 88.3 percent have gotten at least two doses, and 73.9 percent have received a booster.
According to the CECC, 15.4 percent have received a second booster, though among people aged 65 or older that percentage was 42 percent.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel