CDC reports COVID-19 variant caseBy Hou Chia-yu / Staff reporterThe Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl agreed to provide a saliva sample for testing, which came back positive for the COVID-19 variant, Lin said. There is no evidence the BA.3.2 variant causes a significant increase in transmissibility or the risk of developing severe illness, although it remains a “variant under monitoring,” he said. The CDC will continue tracking trends of COVID-19 variants through border surveillance to ensure that local epidemic risks remain under control, he said.

Source: Taipei Times March 30, 2026 17:12 UTC