Taiwan reports 4 local COVID-19 Omicron BA.5 cases

TAIPEI -- Taiwan has so far reported four local COVID-19 cases infected with the BA.5 Omicron subvariant, two of which were newly detected, the island's disease monitoring agency said Monday.

The two new local Omicron BA.5 cases are linked to a family cluster infection, with the transmission source being an imported case of the BA.5 Omicron subvariant that was made public on July 4, the agency said in a statement.

As of Monday, Taiwan has reported 326 imported cases of Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, the agency said.

Taiwan also reported 19,051 new local COVID-19 cases and 96 deaths over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of local COVID-19 cases on the island to more than 4.08 million, according to the agency.