Taiwan's coronavirus spike: What went wrong?

Hotel cluster threatens success story as island logs 415 cases in three days

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Soldiers wait to disinfect Taipei's Wanhua district, which has seen a concentration of coronavirus cases, on May 16. © Reuters

LOUISE WATT, Contributing writer

TAIPEI -- A jump in local transmissions of COVID-19 in Taiwan has raised questions of what went wrong on an island that has been widely praised as a pandemic success story.

Taiwan reported 29 local cases on Friday, 180 on Saturday and 206 on Sunday. The numbers are low compared to those of many countries, but they are a huge blow to Taiwan, which has boosted its international profile thanks to its deft control of the virus.

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