The Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 of SARS-CoV-2 could cause a new wave of local infections next month or in September, newly appointed Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head Victor Wang (王必勝) said yesterday.
Wang made the prediction in response to media queries as the center reported 17,549 local and 454 imported COVID-19 cases, as well as 48 deaths.
Forty-six cases of the two new subvariants — 40 BA.5 and six BA.4 — were confirmed last week, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy chief of the CECC’s medical response division.
Photo courtesy of the CECC
Among the imported cases who underwent genome sequencing, 86.4 percent were infected with the subvariants — 74.5 percent with BA.5 and 11.8 percent with BA.4, showing that BA.5 is becoming a dominant strain, he said.
Lo said the center has revised the ratio of local cases to imported cases slated for genome sequencing to 7:3 to better detect new subvariants spreading in local communities.
CDC Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩), head of the CECC’s disease surveillance division, said the high number of imported cases reported yesterday was due to a data revision error that occurred while the nation’s quarantine policy was being modified on Thursday, which led to some cases being excluded from the data.
Cases that were excluded over the past three days have been added to the total number of imported cases, he said.
The cases have been placed in isolation, he added.
During the news conference, former minister of health and welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who headed the CECC for 911 days since Jan. 23, 2020, presented Wang with the vest of the CECC head as he symbolically handed over his post.
Chen said CECC division heads, including Wang, have held meetings nearly every day since the pandemic began, becoming an experienced team that works well together.
Wang said Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who was CECC deputy head, has also resigned from his post, and the center plans to announce his replacement as soon as a candidate is approved by the Executive Yuan.
Wang said the CECC’s duties include monitoring the global pandemic situation; reviewing and revising Taiwan’s COVID-19 restrictions, including border measures, quarantine policy and non-pharmaceutical interventions; and administering vaccines, including increasing booster coverage, and securing next-generation vaccines.
The center is also preparing disease prevention resources; developing advanced measures to better protect high-risk groups, such as elderly people and children; improving its information systems; and enhancing communication channels with local governments, he said.
“The CECC will continue to do its job of preventing disease,” he said. “Our main goal is to allow people to fully return to their normal lives.”
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