Taiwan detects Omicron BA.4, BA.5 subvariants

TAIPEI, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan has reported five COVID-19 cases infected with BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron, all of which were imported cases, the island's disease monitoring agency said Monday.

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The new cases include four males and one female, who arrived in Taiwan between June 2 and 7, the agency added, warning about the higher infectiousness and immune escape of the two subvariants.

Taiwan reported 45,081 new local COVID-19 cases and 109 deaths on Sunday, according to the agency.

To date, Taiwan has reported 2,937,363 confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 2,923,844 were local infections.