Aside from boosting its vaccination rate, Taiwan should procure enough at-home rapid COVID-19 test kits and oral antiviral drugs as part of a new disease prevention strategy to keep severe cases and deaths as low as possible, former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said on Facebook on Sunday.
Posting seven graphs sourced from the John Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering’s COVID-19 data, Chen, an epidemiologist, shared his views on the global spread of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 by comparing the situation in Taiwan with 10 other countries.
They were Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and the US.
Photo: CNA
After being detected in South Africa late last year, the Omicron variant, which is highly infectious, but has less severe symptoms, has spread around the world, drastically changing the course of the pandemic, he said.
Taiwan’s seven-day rolling average of confirmed cases grew from one per 1 million on Jan. 1 to 91 per 1 million on Friday, with the case count growing significantly in the latter part of last month, he wrote.
However, the number of cases in Taiwan is still lower than those in the 10 countries, in which the Omicron variant has passed its peak and now ranges between 145 and 1,720 per 1 million people.
Comparing cumulative infection rates, as of Friday, Taiwan’s was 1,974 per 1 million people, which is still much lower than the 10 countries, ranging between 60,089 and 418,531 per 1 million people, he said.
As for the seven-day rolling average of COVID-19-associated deaths from Jan. 1 to Friday, Chen said the mortality rate in Taiwan is less than 0.01 per 1 million people, compared with more than one per 1 million people in the 10 countries.
Taiwan’s seven-day rolling average of COVID-19-associated deaths on Friday was about 0.01 per 1 million people, which is lower than the 10 countries, which ranged from 0.35 per million to 4.1 per 1 million people, he said.
As for cumulative COVID-19-associated mortality rates, as of Friday, Taiwan’s was 36 per 1 million people, also much lower than the 10 countries’ 122 to 2,977 per 1 million people, he said.
Taiwan did not impose a lockdown, but it used smart technology and big data to enhance the precision of contact tracing and identifying close contacts, carefully imposing quarantine and isolation, as well as promoting public health measures, which allowed it to maintain zero COVID-19 cases for a long time and for the economy to continue growing, he said.
Taiwan’s first and second dose COVID-19 vaccination rates have caught up with many countries, but there are still many people who are not yet eligible for a booster shot, he said.
While continuing to boost vaccination rates, Taiwan should also prepare enough rapid test kits and oral antiviral drugs, and distribute them fairly to local healthcare facilities, as part of the new disease prevention strategy against Omicron to keep severe cases and deaths as low as possible, and for people to maintain a normal lifestyle and the economy to continue growing, he said.
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