TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Thursday (April 16) announced that for the second time this week there are no new cases of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) to report.

During his daily press conference on Thursday afternoon, Health Minister and CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) announced there were zero new coronavirus cases detected in the country that day. Following an announcement of zero cases on Tuesday, this is the second time this week that Taiwan has announced no new cases of the disease.

Prior to Tuesday's announcement, Taiwan had gone 36 days with at least one new case. The vast majority of cases reported over this period were imported from other countries as Taiwanese citizens fled from hotspots in Europe, Asia, and North America.

There were fears these imported cases would bring a second wave of domestic infections to the country. Fortunately, it appears the CECC's efforts at quickly identifying, isolating, and tracing contacts of confirmed cases have held the virus at bay for now.

Out of Taiwan's total count of 395 cases, 340 were imported from abroad and 55 were contracted locally. Of the confirmed cases, six have succumbed to the disease, while 155 have been released from hospital isolation.