-
Important global outbreak alert by CECC
Third wave of Omicron infections remains at low point with average of 93 new domestic cases (complications) per day; CECC confirms 102 new cases of Omicron subvariants
On April 20, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) reported an average of 93 new confirmed domestic cases of COVID-19 (with complications) per day from April 14 to 20 after relaxed epidemic prevention measures became effective on March 20. This average of new cases per day was slightly higher than the daily average of 86 cases in the previous week (April 8 to 13). The CECC also reported an average of 13 deaths per day in the last week, a number that was slightly lower than the daily average of 17 deaths in the week before last week (April 8-13). Of the COVID-19 deaths that occurred in the last week, 99% of the deceased had chronic diseases, 63% had not received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 95% were 60 years of age or older. Based on the trends in case reports, the use of medical resources, prescriptions for oral antiviral medications, positivity rate among residential care facilities and other data, COVID-19 infections remain at a low point.
The CECC pointed out that there were a total of 102 cases of Omicron subvariants detected over the last week. Of these cases, 43 were domestic, including 32 cases of BA.2.75, eight cases of BQ.1, and three cases of XBB (two of which were XBB.1.5), and the other 59 cases were imported, including 44 cases of XBB (23 of which were XBB.1.5 and 11 were XBB.1.16), 14 cases of BA.2.75, and one case of BQ.1. Based on the surveillance data for the past four weeks, the dominant strain circulating in Taiwan remains to be BA.2.75 (accounting for 68% of the cases), followed by BQ.1 (11%) and then XBB (15%).