The first domestic cluster of infections of the BA.4 Omicron subvariant of SARS-CoV-2 has been confirmed in northern Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
A woman tested positive for BA.4 after her husband on Monday was reported as the country’s first domestic case of the subvariant, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, told a news briefing.
Four members of the family — the couple and their two children — tested positive for COVID-19 a few days ago and genome sequencing has confirmed that both parents have the BA.4 variant, Lo said.
Photo courtesy of the Central Epidemic Command Center
With the confirmation of the second BA.4 case, the infections have been deemed a domestic BA.4 cluster — the first in Taiwan, he said.
Genome sequencing was under way for the two children, with the results expected to be available soon, Lo said.
The BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, first identified in South Africa in January and February respectively, have been shown to evade immunity from prior infections and seem to be more transmissible than the original Omicron variant, the CECC said.
Taiwan has recorded 58 BA.5 cases and two BA.4 cases.
Taiwan yesterday reported 23,088 new local cases of COVID-19 and 34 deaths from the disease, CECC data showed.
In other news, the CDC said that Taiwan has signed a contract to secure an unspecified number of monkeypox vaccine doses, with efforts being made to have them delivered by the end of this month.
The CDC previously said that the vaccine Taiwan has purchased is a third-generation smallpox vaccine, which is clinically suitable for use as a monkeypox vaccine.
CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) did not specify the quantity of the doses or the number of shipments.
Taiwan has recorded three monkeypox infections since June 24, all of which were imported, with the cases either discharged or scheduled to be discharged from medical facilities following quarantine, Chuang said.
On July 27, Taiwan took delivery of 504 doses of tecovirimat, an oral treatment for monkeypox that the CDC said would be prescribed for severe cases and people with immunodeficiencies.
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