Taiwan extends level-3 COVID-19 alert to July 12

TAIPEI, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan will extend its level-3 COVID-19 alert by two more weeks until July 12 in response to the continued risk posed by local transmission of cases, the island's disease monitoring agency said Wednesday.

The level-3 alert, the second-highest in Taiwan's four-tier COVID-19 alert scale, was first issued in Taipei and New Taipei on May 15.

It was implemented across Taiwan on May 19 and initially scheduled to end on May 28, but was subsequently extended twice through June 14 and then June 28.

Taiwan is struggling to contain its worst COVID-19 outbreak amid a lack of vaccines and strained medical resources.

On the same day, Taiwan reported 104 new confirmed local COVID-19 cases and 24 deaths from the disease.

The total number of confirmed cases on the island has risen to 14,260, including 13,041 locally transmitted cases. A total of 599 deaths have been reported, the agency said.