The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 44,428 new COVID-19 cases, down 21 percent from a week earlier. It also confirmed 103 deaths as well as the nation’s youngest case of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said 44,379 local and 49 imported cases were reported.
“Although daily local caseloads are usually higher on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the case count [yesterday] is still about 21 percent lower than the number reported on Tuesday last week [56,404], and the number of local cases is falling by about 80,000 per week,” he said.
Photo: CNA
Chuang said 180 new moderate-to-severe cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 15,266 this year, including 5,595 deaths.
Of the 103 deaths reported yesterday, 97 people (94 percent) had underlying health conditions, 60 (58 percent) did not receive a booster vaccine dose and 58 (56 percent) were aged 80 or older, he said.
One of the deceased was a man in his 30s who had cirrhosis and kidney disease. He also developed bacterial pneumonia and respiratory failure due to COVID-19.
He died on Friday after more than a month of hospitalization, said CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
A one-year-old boy was diagnosed as a severe case yesterday. He was initially diagnosed with COVID-19 on May 28. After his symptoms alleviated, he developed a fever, red lips, rashes and diarrhea on June 17. He was taken to an emergency room on Monday last week after his symptoms did not improve.
The boy was found to have abnormal levels of inflammation markers and thrombosis risk factors, while an echocardiogram showed mild coronary artery dilation, Lo said.
He also developed conjunctivitis, low blood pressure and cold sweats during hospitalization, which suggested MIS-C, Lo said, adding that the boy was on Monday discharged from the hospital after recovering.
The boy is the youngest case of MIS-C and the 15th case of MIS-C reported in Taiwan so far, he added.
Chuang was asked about a doctor’s prediction that daily caseloads could fall below 10,000 by July 18 and the case fatality rate might surpass those in New Zealand, Singapore and Japan while staying lower than those in South Korea and Hong Kong.
Chuang said the number of new daily infections has not fallen as rapidly as predicted, so daily caseloads might fall below 10,000 late next month.
Taiwan’s case fatality rate involving the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is about 15.5 per 10,000 people, Chuang said.
Hopefully, the number of deaths can be further reduced through early diagnosis and treatment, he said.
Asked whether a cap on the number of inbound travelers might be increased, Chuang said the “3+4” quarantine policy and the weekly cap of 25,000 arrivals were implemented on June 15.
The center would observe the policies’ effects for at least two weeks, he said, adding that the cap would not be increased soon, as collecting and analyzing data would take some time.
Separately, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) gave an update about China’s claim that SARS-CoV-2 was detected on the packaging of food imports from Taiwan.
Beijing earlier this month temporarily banned imports of chilled and frozen hairtail fish, as well as frozen horse mackerel, from Taiwan, claiming that SARS-CoV-2 was detected on the packaging.
Chen said that 34 samples were on Monday collected from eight types of seafood packaging in Keelung and Yilan County for SARS-CoV-2 tests and all of them were negative.
He urged China not to make baseless accusations to create trade barriers.
“We have made sure that our products are safe through testing,” he said.
“No country other than China has detected SARS-CoV-2 on frozen food packages during the pandemic,” he said. “Our export products are safe.”
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