COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said.
From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control
From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths did not get the latest vaccine, he added.
SARS-CoV-2 virus surveillance data from the past four weeks show that the XEC subvariant was the dominant strain among local cases, accounting for 54 percent, while the XDV.1 subvariant was the dominant variant among imported cases, accounting for 50 percent, Guo said.
CDC physician Lee Tsung-han (李宗翰) cited as an example of a severe case a young woman in her 20s residing in northern Taiwan who did not have underlying health conditions and who had received her last COVID-19 shot in 2022.
The woman had a fever for two days and developed soreness in the back and a cold sweat, Lee said.
She sought treatment at an emergency room, and was found to have a high white blood cell count and lower right lobe pneumonia, he said.
She tested positive for COVID-19, but negative for influenza, he said.
She also had an increased heartrate and an elevated creatine kinase level, so the doctors suspected she might have COVID-19 with pneumonia and myocarditis, Lee said, adding that she is still being treated in an intensive care unit.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said that since the sixth wave of COVID-19 infections, mainly the Omicron variant, ended in August last year, COVID-19 activity remained low in the past eight months.
“However, this month, we have observed that hospital visits for COVID-19 have climbed steadily for three consecutive weeks, and severe cases and deaths are also increasing,” he said.
Hospital visits, severe cases and deaths last week all hit their highest levels this year, he said.
The CDC has determined that COVID-19 activity is rising, and is likely to reach its peak between next month and June, but it is hard to predict how high the case numbers would be at its peak, he said.
Lo advised the public to get vaccinated for better protection, and take a COVID-19 test if they develop suspected symptoms and tell a doctor the results when they seek medical attention.
There are still more than 3 million doses of government-funded COVID-19 vaccines, and at-home rapid COVID-19 test kits can be bought at many pharmacies, convenience stores, supermarkets and other retailers, Lo said, adding that the government has prepared more than a year’s supply of COVID-19 medications based on current trends.
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