The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 35,601 new local COVID-19 cases and 52 deaths, including an unvaccinated man in his 20s who died three days after testing positive.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), the CECC’s spokesman, said that the local caseload was 18.1 percent lower than a week earlier, and 53 imported cases were also confirmed.
The most cases were reported in New Taipei City, with 6,386, followed by Taichung with 4,544, Kaohsiung with 4,192, Taoyuan with 3,623, Taipei with 3,348 and Tainan with 3,086, CECC data showed.
Of the 52 people who died, 46 had underlying health conditions and 35 had not received a COVID-19 booster shot, Chuang said.
The youngest among them was an unvaccinated man in his 20s, who had a nervous system disease and was obese, he said.
The man developed symptoms, including a fever and a cough, on Thursday last week after a family member tested positive on Monday last week, Chuang said, adding that he was hospitalized after testing positive.
The man died of respiratory failure and septic shock with COVID-19 infection on Sunday last week, he said.
One hundred moderate cases and 53 severe cases were confirmed yesterday, Chuang said.
One of the severe cases was a one-year-old boy, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Sept. 22, and developed a fever, coughing, runny nose, diarrhea, vomiting, rash and red eyes on Oct. 7, he said, adding that the child was rushed to hospital on Wednesday last week.
The boy had elevated inflammatory markers, a coagulation disorder and wheezing, and was hospitalized for suspected multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), Chuang said.
The boy also had respiratory syncytial virus, but has recovered and was discharged on Monday, he added.
A total of 252 children with severe illness from COVID-19 have been reported, including 164 with MIS-C, 33 with encephalitis and 26 with pneumonia, Chung said.
Of the 36 children who died, 13 had encephalitis, eight had pneumonia, nine died before arriving at a hospital, two had sepsis, two had comorbidities, one had croup and another had myocarditis, CECC data showed.
As of Friday, the first and second dose vaccination rates among children aged six months to four years reached 42.4 percent and 14.5 percent respectively, Chuang said.
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