Taiwan reported another rise in domestic COVID-19 cases on Saturday, but the health minister said the trend remained stable with new infections concentrated in the northern part of the island in and around Taipei.

After months of keeping the pandemic under control, Taiwan is dealing with a surge in domestic infections, and the whole island is under a heightened state of alert with people asked to stay at home and many venues shut.

Health Minister Chen Shih-chung announced 321 new domestic cases, plus 400 infections over the past six days whose positive tests were not included in previous reports due to a delay following a spike in cases.

Chen said cases spiked on Monday and the trend remained “stable”.

“There’s no explosion in the pandemic development,” he said, adding cases were concentrated in the few hot spots in the capital and its neighbouring city New Taipei.

He reported two new deaths, bringing the total to 17 since the pandemic began. Taiwan has reported an accumulated 3,862 infections, the majority of which are now domestic cases.

Taiwan, calling this weekend critical to breaking the chain of transmission, has urged people to stay at home.

The health ministry brought out its social media dog mascot, a Shiba Inu called Zongchai, to suggest songs about being alone people could sing at home to keep themselves entertained, like Taiwanese rocker Wu Bai’s hit “Lonely Tree, Lonely Bird”.

“At the weekend, don’t go out unless absolutely necessary,” the ministry said, showing Zongchai wearing glasses in front of a microphone.

Reuters