Local infections caused by new Omicron subvariants of SARS-CoV-2 over the Lunar New Year holiday could peak in early March, a health professor said yesterday, as the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) reported 20,768 new local COVID-19 cases and 26 deaths, including a four-year-old boy.
Tony Chen (陳秀熙), a professor at National Taiwan University’s College of Public Health, said that with many people traveling abroad and attending gatherings during the holiday, more people would be exposed to the BQ.1 and XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariants.
Should the strains begin to spread in local communities, their peak would likely be in early March, he said.
Photo: Lo Chi, Taipei Times
The new subvariants have spread rapidly in many countries, he said, adding that the XBB.1.5 strain is highly transmissible with a better immune evasion ability than previous virus strains, but there is no evidence that it leads to more severe symptoms or death than other Omicron strains.
However, the new subvariants can drive a rapid increase in infections that can still result in serious cases, especially among elderly people and members of vulnerable groups, so they should get the Omicron-adapted bivalent booster vaccine for better protection, he said.
The CECC said that the number of new local infections confirmed yesterday was 17.7 percent lower than that reported on Wednesday last week.
A total of 9,184,798 local cases have been reported between Jan. 1 last year and Tuesday, it said.
Among them were 42,096 moderate-to-severe cases, including 15,017 deaths, while asymptomatic or mild cases accounted for 99.54 percent of the total, it added.
Chen said that a reduction in new local cases was likely a result of many people having immunity from previous infections with the BA.2 or BA.5 Omicron subvariants.
Considering the local COVID-19 situation, people should feel relatively safe during the Lunar New Year holiday, and masking regulations could be eased if daily case counts remain low after the holiday, he said.
Of the 26 newly confirmed deaths, 24 had cancer or other underlying health conditions, and 21 people did not receive a vaccine booster, including 20 who were unvaccinated, the center’s data showed.
Among the deceased was an unvaccinated four-year-old boy, who had chronic kidney disease, the CECC said.
On Monday last week, he had a fever, vomiting, diarrhea and general weakness, and was rushed to an emergency room the next day.
He was admitted to an intensive care unit for encephalitis after he tested positive for COVID-19 and was found to have gastrointestinal bleeding and serious swelling of the brain, it said.
He died after the encephalitis and COVID-19 symptoms worsened on Friday last week, it said.
A total of 303 serious COVID-19 cases have been confirmed among children, including 200 cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, 37 cases of encephalitis, and 33 cases of pneumonia, the CECC said.
Forty-two of them have died, including 15 with encephalitis, 10 who died at home and nine who had pneumonia.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
SEMICONDUCTORS: TSMC is able to produce 2-nanometer chips and mass production is expected to be launched by next year, the company said In leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing China is behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) by at least 10 years as the Taiwanese chipmaker’s manufacturing process has progressed to 2 nanometers, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said yesterday. Wu made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee when asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) about a report published in August by the Chinese version of Nikkei Asia that said Taiwan’s lead over China in chip manufacturing was only three years. She asked Wu Cheng-wen if the report was an accurate
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
RSS