Taiwan reports new record of 206 local COVID-19 cases

TAIPEI, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan on Sunday confirmed 207 new cases of COVID-19, of which 206 were classified as local infections, the highest number ever recorded in a single day since the pandemic began.

The new local cases are 90 males and 116 females, ranging from under 5 years of age to over 80 years old, the local disease monitoring agency said.

In response to the surge in cases, authorities have raised the COVID-19 alert level for Taipei and New Taipei City to Level 3 on Saturday, the first time the alert has been imposed in Taiwan.

Starting Monday, ninth graders and 12th graders at high schools in Taipei and New Taipei City will be allowed to move to remote learning instead of going to school in person.

Civil servants in the two cities will implement flexible work hours from Monday through May 28.

Taiwan has been grappling with a series of cluster infections in the past few days and Sunday marked the third consecutive day in which the record for the highest number of daily local cases was broken.

Meanwhile, Taiwan on Sunday confirmed one imported COVID-19 case from India.

The total number of confirmed cases on the island has risen to 1,682, including 12 deaths, the agency said.