TAIPEI -- Starting on Thursday, people in Taiwan with a positive result on a rapid antigen test, after being verified by a doctor, will be confirmed to be infected with COVID-19, according to the island's disease monitoring agency.

The new protocol for COVID-19 diagnosis was initially limited to particular groups.

The number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Taiwan is still on the rise. The island's disease monitoring agency on Thursday said that Taiwan on Wednesday recorded 81,852 new local COVID-19 cases and 104 deaths.

Affected by the epidemic, a record number of 2,479 companies in Taiwan have sharply cut their production and put workers on unpaid leave, with the service sector suffering the most.

The unemployment rate of Taiwan was 3.62 percent in April, with 429,000 people losing their jobs in total, according to the island's statistics authority earlier this week.

To date, Taiwan has reported 1,640,271 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of these, 1,627,494 were local infections.