The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 1,626 local cases of COVID-19 and two associated deaths, including a two-year-old boy and a man in his 90s.
The center also announced revised testing requirements for people under home isolation or home quarantine, which take effect today.
Imported cases stood at 101, including 36 each from Vietnam and Indonesia, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center.
Photo courtesy of the Pingtung County Government
New Taipei City had the most new domestic cases with 583, followed by Taipei with 287, Taoyuan with 197, Keelung with 148, Hualien County with 74, Kaohsiung with 64, Yilan County with 61, Taichung with 50, Tainan with 45, Hsinchu with 27, and sporadic cases in 11 other cities and counties.
One case with moderate complications was reclassified as a case with severe complications, making this year’s tally 43 cases with moderate complications (or 0.37 percent of total cases) and four with severe complications (0.03 percent).
Two deaths were also confirmed yesterday, meaning that the four people with severe complications have died, Chen said.
One of the deaths is a two-year-old boy who did not have a chronic illness, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
The boy — who exhibited symptoms on Wednesday last week, and was diagnosed and hospitalized the next day — died of sepsis and brainstem encephalitis yesterday morning, Lo said.
Doctors suspect the boy had also contracted other viruses, although test results have so far been negative, he added.
The boy is the youngest to die due to COVID-19 in Taiwan, Chen said.
A specialists’ meeting is to take place today to discuss emergency treatment guidelines for infected children, he added.
Chen said the other person who died is a man in his 90s who received three vaccine doses, but had a history of cancer, heart failure and chronic kidney disease.
The man was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Thursday and died on Saturday, he said.
Chen announced revised testing requirements for people isolating after having had close contact with a confirmed case.
The first test is to be a rapid COVID-19 test or a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, he said.
If a rapid test is positive, a PCR test would be conducted to confirm the result, Chen said.
Another rapid test would be given on the 10th day of isolation, before the person’s release, he said.
Inbound travelers in home quarantine would receive a PCR test upon their arrival and a rapid test on the 10th day of quarantine, before being released, he said.
An additional at-home rapid test kit would be given to people in home isolation or quarantine to use upon detecting symptoms, he added.
PCR tests are required for children under two years old, the CECC said, adding that if someone in home quarantine or isolation cannot perform a rapid test on their own, their local health department can arrange for someone to assist them.
Negotiations to purchase doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for adults and children are complete, he said, adding that a contract is likely to be signed soon, as agencies are conducting their final reviews.
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