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.
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