Tue, Dec 20, 2022 page2

• Panadol sales up amid China COVID-19 surge

  SHORTAGES: People should only buy acetaminophen when needed, and are encouraged to avoid buying the medicine in bulk, the minister of health and welfare said

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said there has been increased bulk buying of Panadol pain relief medicine, causing a shortage in the market, but people who need the medicine are recommended to buy pain relief medicine that contains the same ingredient — acetaminophen — from other brands.

  In a Cabinet meeting for COVID-19 prevention and response yesterday morning, the CECC said that although the Chinese government stopped releasing comprehensive data on new cases on Tuesday last week, many news outlets reported a shortage in fever and pain-relief drugs, as well as traditional herbal medicines, indicating an increase in the number of people with fever, so it is likely that COVID-19 cases are rising in China.

  The Bureau of Consular Affairs has observed more people applying to renew their passports, and many people are expected to travel abroad or return to Taiwan from the year’s end to around the Lunar New Year next month, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said.

  

  Panadol painkillers are pictured at a pharmacy in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: CNA

  Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the center, said the center had seen an increase in bulk buying of Panadol, a common drug for reducing pain and fever, and it has contacted the brand’s distributor in Taiwan to ask it to increase its supply, but the distributor said Panadol is in tight supply in other countries too.

  There are 47 permits for producing drugs with acetaminophen held by several drug companies, so people can buy the medicine produced by other brands if they cannot find Panadol, he said.

  However, Wang urged people to only buy acetaminophen when needed, and to avoid buying the medicine in bulk.

  The CECC yesterday reported 10,317 new local COVID-19 cases — 4.7 percent lower than that on Monday last week — as well as 48 imported cases and 23 deaths.

  Wang said 107,315 local cases were confirmed last week, 6.7 percent higher than the week before, so whether the weekly cases continue to fluctuate, or start to escalate into another wave, is uncertain and requires further observation.

  Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said that of the 23 deceased, 16 had not been vaccinated.

  Of the genome sequenced cases last week, 84 percent of the local cases were infected with the Omicron BA.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2, which remains the dominant strain in Taiwan, he said.

  Although BA.5 infections accounted for 38 percent of the sequenced imported cases last week, 29 percent were infected with BA.2.75 and 17 percent were infected with BQ.1, he said.

  Regarding whether new subvariants could enter Taiwan from China, where cases are surging, Lo said two sequenced imported cases from China last week were infected with the BF.7 strain, which has mainly been reported near Beijing, and another with BA.5.
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