Taipei, Taiwan

Taiwan's Premier Su Tseng-chang on Sunday (May 1) slammed ''cruel'' coronavirus lockdowns imposed by China.

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He said that "Countries all over the world have been opening up to live with the virus. Taiwan... will continue to move towards living normal lives and gradually head to a new phase in epidemic prevention."

"We have a plan, and there is a rhythm to it. "We will not lock down the country and cities as cruelly as China," he added.

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Su's barbed comment comes amid heightened tensions between Taiwan and China, with defence experts predicting that Beijing could use the Ukraine crisis as a distraction to attack Taipei.

COVID-19 cases in Taiwan have been rising since the start of this year, with some 75,000 infections driven by the Omicron variant.

The self-governing island has refused to adopt the zero-Covid strategy that has been embraced by China even as Omicron breaks through defences and forces painful lockdowns.

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Also read | Shanghai hits Covid milestone, Beijing still wary

Health authorities believe that 99 per cent of the cases recorded recently in Taiwan were those who had mild or no symptoms.

According to a new policy, if a rapid antigen test proves to be negative at the end of the isolation period, its period will be shortened for three days instead of 10.

Taiwan, which has a population of 23 million people, has moved to ease restrictions as it seeks normalcy and to gradually reopen the island.

Although approximately 80 percent of the population are double vaccinated, Health minister Chen Shih-chung warned last week that Taiwan's daily case count could more than double to 37,000 in a week.

The country has reported 132,955 cases and 868 related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

(With inputs from agencies)