TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Centers for Disease Control on Tuesday said the current wave of COVID cases may have peaked earlier than expected and could wane ahead of schedule.

Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳), deputy director of the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center, reported that from June 1 to 7 there were 70,182 outpatient and emergency visits for COVID—a 9.3 percent increase from the previous week—per CNA. She added that this growth rate is significantly slower than last week and that emergency room visits have already started to decline.

CDC spokesperson Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) noted that mask wearing noticeably increased around the Dragon Boat Festival, with about half of subway passengers wearing masks. He said this rise in mask wearing has been a major factor in slowing the spread of the virus.

Lo also pointed out that the period after the Dragon Boat Festival coincided with school final exams and graduation week, leading to reduced activity among students. He said this likely contributed to the drop in cases among the 10–19 age group.

With the peak arriving earlier than the previously expected late June or early July timeline, Lo said the surge could end one to two weeks sooner than the initial estimate of Aug. 9.

He added that this wave, peaking at 70,000 visits, is only about half the size of last summer’s peak of 132,000, meaning significantly less strain on emergency medical resources. However, based on past trends, Lo warned that a milder summer wave could be followed by another resurgence in fall or winter.