CORONAVIRUS/Travelers to be offered free COVID tests at Taoyuan Airport thru LNY

Taipei, Jan. 2 (CNA) Free packs of COVID-19 rapid tests will be offered to travelers at Taoyuan International Airport from Wednesday through the end of the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The four or five-test packs will be available daily from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. at the arrival and departure halls in both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of the airport, the CDC said in a press release Tuesday.

The CDC said the offer of free rapid tests was intended to coincide with the busy travel season around the Lunar New Year, as well as an uptick in COVID-19 cases both in Taiwan and internationally in recent weeks.

According to CDC data, Taiwan reported 360 severe COVID-19 infections for the week Dec. 26-Jan. 1, up 10.8 percent from 325 cases the week before.

Taiwan also recorded 38 COVID-19-related deaths over the past week, up from 37 the previous week, the CDC said.

The health agency urged members of the public, and particularly seniors, to get Moderna's updated COVID-19 vaccine against the Omicron XBB subvariant, which has been available since Sept. 26.

From Dec. 26 through Jan. 1, 98 percent of serious infections and all 38 COVID-19-related deaths in Taiwan involved people who had not received an XBB vaccine shot, the CDC said.

People aged 65 and above have also accounted for 78 percent of all serious infections and 90 percent of COVID-19 deaths in recent weeks, according to the agency.