With Taiwan having won plaudits last year for its successful containment of COVID-19, a recent virus resurgence in the territory was all the more surprising. Data shows it was unusually deadly, as well.
While Taiwan has seen fewer than 800 COVID-19 deaths in total, 500 of them occurred in June alone, amid its biggest virus wave to date.
The pathogen got through the stringent border curbs that had kept local infections at bay for most of 2020, seeding an outbreak that tore through the then-largely unvaccinated elderly population.