The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that 64 COVID-19-related deaths were reported last week, the highest weekly number in five months. It said the JN.1 subvariant has become the dominant strain.
CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said 546 hospitalized COVID-19 cases and 64 deaths were reported last week, and that 79 percent of the cases were elderly people aged 65 or older.
SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance data from the past four weeks showed that the JN.1 subvariant accounted for 52 percent of sequenced cases, followed by the EG.5 strain at 35 percent and the XBB.1.5 strain at 7 percent, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control
The global testing positivity rate has started decreasing, but the rates in Southeast Asia and the western Pacific are still increasing, Guo said, adding that JN.1 is also the dominant circulating strain globally.
Meanwhile, 114,754 hospital visits for flu-like illness, 40 severe flu complications and eight flu-related deaths were reported last week, he said.
Of the severe flu cases, 30 people did not get vaccinated this flu season and six of those who died were unvaccinated, while the majority had underlying health conditions, Gou said.
CDC physician Liu Yu-cheng (劉裕誠) said one of the people who died was a three-year-old girl, who did not have underlying health conditions, but was unvaccinated and began suffering respiratory symptoms earlier this month.
She was rushed to hospital after developing a high fever and altered state of consciousness.
The girl tested positive for flu and acute encephalitis, so was admitted to an intensive care unit.
She died of respiratory failure after being hospitalized for about three weeks, making her the youngest person to die of flu this year, he said.
“She did not get vaccinated this flu season, and children are more likely than adults to develop severe complications and encephalitis from an infection,” Liu said.
The CDC reminded people to pay close attention to the warning signs of severe complications, such as difficulty breathing or cyanosis (skin, lips or nails turning blue due to a lack of oxygen), and seek medical attention immediately if they occur.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said although hospital visits for flu-like illness slightly reduced last week, both flu-like illness and COVID-19 cases are still expected to peak this week.
“We predict another wave of infections after the Lunar New Year holiday ... so we are still urging people to get the XBB.1.5-COVID-19 adapted vaccine,” Lo said, adding that a new batch of Novavax’s vaccine arrived in Taiwan on Monday and is likely to be distributed next week.
In addition, more than 580,000 packs of government-funded free COVID-19 rapid test kits had been picked up by travelers at international airports and harbors as of Thursday last week, he said.
As more people are expected to arrive via the “small three links” ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, free test kits are also to be provided at Beigan Baisha Harbor (北竿白沙港) and Nangan Fuao Harbor (南竿福澳港) starting tomorrow, he said.
In addition, the CDC is offering subsidies to hospitals willing to have doctors available to treat people with respiratory infection diseases during the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Feb. 8.
Non-pediatric treatment during the Lunar New Year holiday would be subsidized at NT$10,000 per patient, while doctors treating children would be subsidized NT$15,000 per patient, it said.
There are currently 157 hospitals nationwide that would be providing the service during the holiday, Lo said.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
The US House of Representatives yesterday unanimously passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, which aims to disincentivize Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by cutting Chinese leaders and their family members off from the US financial system if Beijing acts against Taiwan. The bipartisan bill, which would also publish the assets of top Chinese leaders, was cosponsored by Republican US Representative French Hill, Democratic US Representative Brad Sherman and seven others. If the US president determines that a threat against Taiwan exists, the bill would require the US Department of the Treasury to report to Congress on funds held by certain members of the
RSS