Taiwan reports 343 local COVID-19 cases, 36 deaths Sunday

TAIPEI -- Taiwan on Sunday reported 343 local COVID-19 cases, including 335 new infections and eight backlogged local cases, the island's disease monitoring agency said, noting that 36 new deaths were registered.

Of the new local cases, 189 were male and 146 female with the onset of symptoms occurring between May 24 and Saturday.

Among the eight backlogged cases, three were male and five female, who experienced symptoms between Tuesday and Wednesday, the agency said.

The 36 fatalities included 22 men and 14 women -- in their 50s to 90s -- who died between May 28 and Friday.

Taiwan is struggling to contain the worst outbreak of COVID-19, with its mortality rate exceeding 2.4 percent from May 15 to June 6.

The high number of deaths can be attributed to many factors, including most COVID-19 patients in Taiwan's current outbreak being older and having chronic illnesses, the agency said, adding that the number of deaths tends to peak in the 10 to 14 days after a spike in cases.

The total number of confirmed cases on the island since the epidemic began has risen to 11,298, including 10,100 local cases. A total of 260 deaths have been recorded, the agency said.