Tue, Nov 22, 2022 page2

• COVID-19 cases fall 16%; lowest count since April

  NEW STRAIN: Imported cases of the BA.2.75 subvariant have increased to 43% in the past three weeks, so it is likely to become the dominant circulating strain

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 11,888 new local COVID-19 cases, the lowest daily caseload since late April, adding that weekly new cases have also declined for six consecutive weeks.

  Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said that daily local cases declined by 28 percent from Monday last week, to the lowest number since April 28.

  Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the center, said 128,420 new local cases were reported last week, a decline by 16.33 percent compared with the week before, and case numbers have dropped for six consecutive weeks.

  

  Visitors crowd a music festival in Kaoshiung on Sunday.

  Photo: Copied by Ge Yu-hao, Taipei Times

  CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said the 41 newly confirmed deaths include 39 people who had chronic illnesses and 22 people who did not get a vaccine booster.

  Lo said 102 virus samples — from 81 local and 21 imported cases — were sequenced last week, and 98.8 percent of the local cases were caused by the Omicron BA.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2, while only one case had the BA.2 subvariant.

  Of the imported cases, 10 people had BA.5, nine had BA.2.75 and one of each had the XBB and BQ.1 subvariants, he said, adding that the imported cases of BA.2.75 have increased from 6 percent to 28 percent, and to 43 percent in the past three weeks, and would likely replace BA.5 to become the dominant strain.

  However, Lo said BA.2.75 does not have stronger immune escape ability than the XBB or BQ subvariants, so it has not replaced BA.5 as the dominant strain in many countries, although XBB has become the dominant strain circulating in Singapore.

  Meanwhile, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) on Sunday said the CECC had blocked many fraudulent brokers of COVID-19 vaccines last year, which led to opposition parties demanding that Wang name the brokers and question if they included a renowned religious group.

  Wang yesterday said Fo Guang Shan’s (佛光山) affiliated Buddha’s Light International Association ROC on May 27 last year proposed donating Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccines to the nation, albeit without relevant documents.

  Association members visited the CECC on June 1 to discuss the matter, but Johnson & Johnson on June 2 last year said it would only negotiate with governments regarding its vaccine sales.

  The association on June 7 last year informed the CECC that it had learned the government had contacted Johnson & Johnson about purchasing vaccines, and said if a deal were to be made it would support the purchase through a donation of 200,000 to 500,000 doses, he said.

  However, Johnson & Johnson was only able to promise delivery for this year, so the donation was unsuccessful, but Wang said the center was grateful for the association’s enthusiastic offer.

  The CECC is thankful to the individuals and organizations that tried to help secure vaccines, Wang said.

  However, he said it was the center’s duty to ensure the purchase of “authentic vaccines,” and that they “are really able to receive them,” so it has asked people to provide documents including the delivery schedule, quantity and authorized distributor certificate from the vaccine company, he said.

  If requirements are met, the center would assist them in negotiations, Wang added.
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