The Omicron BA.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2 accounted for 59.2 percent of the sequenced domestic COVID-19 cases last week, while the Omicron BA.4.6 subvariant had been discovered in 11 previous cases, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩), head of the CECC’s disease surveillance division, said 28,210 new local infections, 239 imported cases and 31 deaths were confirmed yesterday.
The local case count is about 10 percent higher than that of Monday last week, showing that the number of COVID-19 cases is still rising, so the center again encouraged people to stay up to date with their vaccine shots for better protection, Chou said.
Photo: CNA
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, said the number of accumulated local cases last week was 286,484, which was 20.8 percent higher than the week before, in which 237,484 cases were reported, showing that the increase in the number of cases is not particularly fast, but it is still growing.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said the genome sequencing results of samples from 179 local cases last week showed that 106, or 59.2 percent, were infected with the Omicron BA.5 subvariant, while the others were infected with the Omicron BA.2 subvariant.
The Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant strain in northern, central and southern Taiwan, accounting for about 60 to 63 percent of cases, but in eastern Taiwan it only accounts for about 20 percent of the cases, Lo said, adding that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant is slowly replacing the Omicron BA.2 subvariant.
The Omicron BA.4.6 subvariant that has been reported spreading in the US had been detected in seven imported cases — two from the US, and one each from Austria, France, South Korea, the Netherlands and the UK — and four previous local cases, he said.
The four local cases include a family cluster of three which were all mild infections and community spread has not been observed, he added.
Studies have suggested that the Omicron BA.4.6 subvariant is about 10 percent more transmissible than the BA.5 subvariant, which does not imply that it would spread more rapidly, and studies have also suggested that the BA.4.6 subvariant might be more resistant to Evusheld, a combination of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies effective against the virus, Lo said.
Meanwhile, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has instructed government agencies to discuss supplementary measures and make preparations for the nation’s borders to be reopened, but no schedule has yet been decided, Wang said.
Su also said that the public and related industries would need time to understand any new policies and prepare for them, Wang said.
“We will certainly announce the new policies as early as possible, so that everyone would have sufficient time to prepare,” he said.
Separately, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC spokesman, said as some local governments plan to start administering the new bivalent vaccine on Saturday, eligible recipients who wish to get a shot are advised to check their local health department’s Web site for information.
Government-funded flu vaccinations are expected to start on Oct. 1, and people can receive the flu vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine in different arms on the same day, Chuang said, adding that if people wish to observe the possible adverse effects of each vaccine, they could receive them on different days or consult a doctor for advice.
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