Taipei, June 6 (CNA) Taiwan reported no new cases of the new coronavirus COVID-19 on Saturday, leaving the total number of cases at 443 since the outbreak emerged late last year, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

Saturday was also the 55th consecutive day with no domestically transmitted infections in Taiwan, according to CECC statistics. The last time Taiwan recorded a domestic infection was on April 12.

At a daily press briefing, Chang Shan-chwen, an advisor to the command center, said that by May 9, the epidemic had already started showing signs of easing in Taiwan because by that date the country had close to 28 days of no domestically transmitted infections, or two times the disease's 14-day incubation period.

"It pointed out that domestically Taiwan was considered relatively safe, and in fact it has been the case with no local infections up until now," Chang said.

To date, 352 of Taiwan's 443 cases of COVID-19 have been classified as imported, while 55 are believed to be local infections, according to CECC statistics.

The other 36 cases were on board a Navy vessel that was on a goodwill mission in the Pacific in March, a cluster infection the CECC says originated in Taiwan.

The last time Taiwan recorded an imported infection was on June 1, involving a woman in her 50s who went to the United States in March for work and returned to Taiwan May 31.

To date, 429 COVID-19 patients in Taiwan have recovered, seven have died, and the others are in hospital, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, who also heads the CECC.

Globally, COVID-19 has infected 6,742,096 people in 187 countries and regions, including 1,928,070 in the United States, 615,590 in Brazil, 449,834 in Russia, 283,311 in the United Kingdom, and 240,978 in Spain, with a total of 394,579 fatalities, according to CECC statistics as of Saturday.