Hospital visits for COVID-19 last week increased by nearly 80 percent from the previous week, while the number of whooping cough cases reported so far this year reached 14, the most for the first four months in six years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
There were 5,853 hospital visits for COVID-19 from April 27 to Saturday, up 78 percent from the previous seven-day period and the highest weekly number this year, CDC data showed.
Weekly hospital visits for COVID-19 have been increasing weekly since the start of last month, reaching 5,893 last week, including 33 severe cases and four deaths, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said.
Photo: CNA
Among the people with severe COVID-19 and those who died from the disease so far this year, more than 91 percent had not received the JN.1-adapted vaccine, while most were elderly or had underlying health conditions, the CDC said.
The youngest person with severe symptoms last week was a four-year-old girl, who did not have underlying health conditions and had never been vaccinated against COVID-19, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said.
The child was coughing with phlegm and had a mild fever last month, Lin said.
She was initially treated at a clinic, but was later rushed to a hospital with a persistent fever, severe coughing, loss of appetite and vitality, and difficulty breathing, Lin said.
The child had low blood pressure, respiratory distress, an elevated white blood cell count, pulmonary infiltrates in both lungs and tested positive for COVID-19, Lin said, adding that she was admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) where she was conscious and had stable vital signs.
While COVID-19 activity is increasing rapidly, the 5,853 hospital visits last week was still low compared with the 19,334 visits in the same week last year, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said.
The centers estimate that COVID-19 activity would continue to increase in the next few weeks, but as there are many factors invoved — including infection wave peaks tending to decrease, with the previous wave being more than six months ago, and the introduction of JN.1-adapted vaccines — it is difficult to accurately predict when cases would top out, Lo said.
People who are eligible for the JN.1-adpated COVID-19 vaccine are advised to get vaccinated for better protection, he added.
Three local cases of whooping cough were reported last week, two two-month-old boys and a girl under one month, Lee said.
Fourteen local cases have been reported so far this year, the most in the period in six years, she said, adding that six cases (42.9 percent) were under three months old.
Only one of the boys with whooping cough had received a dose of a pentavalent vaccine, Lin said, adding that both boys had been discharged from hospital, while the girl was still being treated in an ICU.
The relatively high number of whooping cough cases this year is likely associated with an increase in cases in nearby countries, including Japan, which has reported more than 9,300 cases this year, with some being antibiotic-resistant strains, Lo said.
Antibiotic-resistant strains of whooping cough have not been reported in Taiwan this year, but parents are advised to get their young children vaccinated with the five-dose pentavalent vaccine according to the recommended schedule for better protection, and doctors should test children for whooping cough if the have persistent coughing, he said.
As newborns are at the highest risk of severe complications from whooping cough, the CDC recommends that pregnant women get a dose of the pentavalent vaccine between the 28th and 36th week of pregnancy to protect the mother and the baby, Lin said.
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