Slightly more than 10 percent of Taiwan’s population had as of yesterday been infected with COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, after Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) earlier said this would be an important milestone the nation had to reach before the number of daily cases could start to decline.
The total number of reported cases yesterday reached 2,342,794, slightly more than 10 percent of Taiwan’s total population of 23,319,776.
However, as many people infected with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, the true number of cases might be higher, up to 20 to 30 percent of the population, experts said.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan yesterday reported a single-day high of 152 deaths from COVID-19, surpassing the previous record of 145 deaths on Sunday last week, the CECC said.
The center also reported 68,151 new confirmed cases, of which 68,118 were classified as domestic and 33 as imported.
Yesterday’s deaths were aged from one to in their 90s, the CECC said.
Seventy-one were unvaccinated and 144 had chronic illnesses or other severe diseases, the center said.
The youngest person who died was a one-year-old boy who was previously hospitalized for a congenital heart disease, CECC data showed.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said the boy, who depended on a respirator for breathing due to his comorbidity, had difficulty breathing on Saturday last week, when he was administered a polymerase chain reaction test that showed he had COVID-19.
He developed pneumonia and was admitted to an intensive care unit, Chuang said.
Despite treatment with remdesivir, an antiviral drug, and antibiotics, he passed away on Wednesday, Chuang said.
CECC data showed that he was the 12th child aged under 10 to die from COVID-19 complications this year.
The CECC said that 155 previously reported cases had developed severe symptoms, while 341 others had developed moderate symptoms.
Of the 2,246,911 domestic cases recorded in Taiwan this year, 2,328 have been classified as severe and 4,705 as moderate, or 0.1 percent and 0.21 percent respectively of the total, CECC data showed.
All other cases were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, the CECC said.
The highest number of yesterday’s new cases were in New Taipei City with 9,820, followed by Kaohsiung with 9,657 and Taichung with 9,511, the data showed.
Taoyuan reported 6,926 cases, Tainan reported 5,631, Taipei reported 5,228, Changhua County posted 4,475, Pingtung County reported 2,737, Hsinchu County posted 1,949, Miaoli County reported 1,719, Hsinchu City reported 1,551, Yunlin County posted 1,407 and Nantou County reported 1,308, the data showed.
Yilan County reported 1,212 cases, Chiayi County posted 1,129, Keelung reported 1,024, Hualien County posted 1,019, Chiayi City reported 738, Taitung County reported 672, Penghu County posted 194, Kinmen County reported 185 and Lienchiang County had 26, the data showed.
Taiwan has reported 2,329,609 domestic infections since the pandemic began in early 2020.
With the 152 deaths reported yesterday, Taiwan’s cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 fatalities rose to 2,815, the data showed.
Additional reporting by Wu Liang-yi
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2