The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease.
The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said.
The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said.
Photo: Lin Huei-chin, Taipei Times
The girl arrived in Taiwan on March 14, and was found to have a fever of 38.5°C upon entry, so she was intercepted by quarantine personnel at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, he said.
The girl agreed to provide a saliva sample for testing, which came back positive for the COVID-19 variant, Lin said.
The girl had been in Singapore for 14 days before arriving in Taiwan, where she stayed until March 20, Lin said, adding that her activities were primarily centered around Taipei.
The girl had not had a COVID-19 vaccine shot in the past 12 months, and after quarantine personnel conducted a travel, occupation, contact and cluster, or TOCC, assessment, they issued a notice instructing her to seek medical attention within 24 hours, the CDC said.
No community transmission occurred during her stay, and there is no need for people to be concerned about contact risks, it said.
The global prevalence of infections with the BA.3.2 variant had initially grown to about 3 or 4 percent, but it has not further risen and has not become a dominant strain, Lin said.
There is no evidence the BA.3.2 variant causes a significant increase in transmissibility or the risk of developing severe illness, although it remains a “variant under monitoring,” he said.
The WHO has said that existing COVID-19 vaccines remain effective at preventing severe illness from the new variant, so people do not need to panic, he said.
However, high-risk groups, including those aged 65 or older and people with chronic diseases, are advised to get vaccinated, he said.
Regarding global COVID-19 activity, Lin said it is declining in Japan, but infections in Okinawa have risen by 1.2 times in the past four weeks, which requires continued attention.
The CDC will continue tracking trends of COVID-19 variants through border surveillance to ensure that local epidemic risks remain under control, he said.
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