TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Wednesday (March 30) announced that amid a surge of cases across Taiwan, the country has nearly 20 transmission chains from unidentified sources.

Taiwan's local outbreak heated up on Wednesday with 56 local cases announced, including four new transmission chains of unknown origin. During a press conference that afternoon, Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, announced that there are currently a total of 19 new transmission chains of unknown origin.

Lo pointed out that case No. 23,126, which was detected in Keelung City's Anle District, was originally listed as a case with an undetermined origin. However, after an epidemiological investigation was conducted, it was found that the case had been to the Yinhe Snack Bar, a karaoke parlor in Keelung City. This overlaps with the saleswoman in New Taipei's Sanchong District (case No. 22,701) and has been merged into the same transmission chain.

On Wednesday, a total of four new transmission chains were added, including a wedding banquet in Taichung, a dance studio in Taoyuan, a police officer from a New Taipei quarantine center, and a masseuse in a massage parlor in New Taipei. This brings the total number of COVID transmission chains of unknown origin to 19 in Taiwan.

The largest of these 19 chains is a cluster infection at the Datan Power Plant in Taoyuan City with 78 cases, followed by the Yinhe Snack Bar cluster with 68 cases. In addition, there are six new cases in Keelung and one in New Taipei that have not yet been assigned to a transmission chain.